1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to refuse funding for the Department of Homeland Security when the continuing resolution expires on January 30 unless meaningful reforms are enacted to stop escalating ICE violence against American citizens. Last week in Minneapolis, a masked ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old unarmed American mother who had just dropped her son at school. According to The New York Times, ICE agents have fired on at least nine people in their vehicles over the past four months, resulting in two deaths including one in Chicago. Barely 24 hours after Good's killing, federal agents shot a married couple in Portland, Oregon. This pattern of violence represents an unprecedented escalation that demands immediate congressional action. Rather than investigating this killing transparently, the Trump administration launched a smear campaign calling Good a "domestic terrorist" and transferred the investigation from state officials to a corrupted FBI process designed to shield ICE from accountability. Meanwhile, ICE operations in Minneapolis have become increasingly authoritarian, with warrantless door-to-door searches, agents swarming vehicles and threatening citizens, and violence against protesters so severe that schools closed because children were not considered safe. You have leverage through the budget process. Republicans need at least seven Democratic votes in the Senate to reach the 60-vote threshold to bypass the filibuster. Several Democrats including Senator Chris Murphy, Representative Delia Ramirez, Representative Pramila Jayapal, and Representative Eric Swalwell have expressed openness to using this leverage. Senator Murphy is rallying support for legislation requiring DHS to obtain warrants for non-border arrests, restricting Border Patrol to actual border operations, limiting ICE's use of firearms in routine civil matters, and requiring agents to wear identification and remain unmasked. Recent polling shows a majority of Americans now disapprove of ICE's actions, with support for Trump's immigration policies falling steadily over the past year. This is both morally necessary and good politics. I urge you to take a clear stand by refusing to fund DHS until these reforms are enacted. Accountability cannot wait.