1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to vote against the Department of Homeland Security funding bill when it reaches the Senate and to work toward defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations that have spiraled into violence and lawlessness. The House passed this legislation on January 23rd with a vote of 220-207, allocating $10 billion to ICE and $18.3 billion to Customs and Border Protection. The Senate faces a January 30 deadline to pass funding legislation, and I am asking you to oppose this bill and advocate for amendments that significantly reduce or eliminate ICE funding. Recent ICE operations have demonstrated that this agency is beyond reform. Two weeks before the House vote, ICE officer Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother of three, in the Twin Cities. Videos, eyewitness accounts, shooting analyses, and an independent autopsy have raised serious questions about this killing, yet Ross has not been arrested or prosecuted. This tragedy is not isolated. ICE has been documented deporting children with cancer, using a five-year-old child as bait, and detaining U.S. citizens and veterans. The ACLU has noted that polling shows the majority of voters oppose ICE and Border Patrol's attacks on our communities. Americans want investments in healthcare and economic relief, not billions of dollars funding masked agents who arrest neighbors regardless of citizenship status. Advocacy organizations representing millions of constituents have condemned this funding as wildly out of touch with public priorities. Providing $10 billion to ICE will only embolden an agency that operates with impunity and qualified immunity. I urge you to vote no on this legislation and to support efforts to redirect these funds toward humane immigration processing, legal representation for immigrants, and community services. Our communities deserve safety and dignity, not a mass deportation machine that kills innocent people.