1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

Americans have now died resisting ICE, and others are putting their lives on the line every day. The question of ICE’s future is now in your hands; you and other Senate Democrats can use the filibuster to defund DHS. The filibuster is powerful leverage, especially when combined with the outrage of the American people over ICE’s murderous rampage. You and other Senate Dems can shut down ~50% of the federal government or indefinitely suspend funding for DHS until Republicans agree to major reforms at ICE. However, Senate Democratic leadership seems to be signaling a compromise that would keep DHS funded. Reports are that Schumer is requesting “to end roving patrols, tighten the rules governing warrants, and require that ICE coordinate with state and local law enforcement. Second, federal agents should be held to the same use-of-force policies that apply to other police forces and be held accountable for violations, including through independent investigations. Finally, federal agents must be prohibited from wearing masks and required to use body cameras and carry proper identification.” These proposed reforms can be summarized as follows: ICE will follow *some* (but not *all*) of the rules and practices observed by every other law enforcement agency in the US. This is not enough. *Do not* relinquish the filibuster in exchange for the above reforms. If you do, Americans will continue to die in the streets and Congress will have done nothing to stop it. The necessary reforms must come very close to shutting down ICE and rebuilding it from the ground up. ICE is filled with agents for whom no background check was conducted, agents who have no prior experience or training in use of force, and new hires who responded to ads that explicitly reference “first person shooter video games” in which the objective was to “stop the flood” of “aliens” from destroying humanity. They must all be fired and given the opportunity to re-apply under stringent background checks, qualification requirements, and extensive training for law enforcement officers. ICE has been granted an obscene budget increase such that it has more resources than the armies of nations like Italy, Israel, and Brazil. Despite lip service to an “independent investigation,” the evidence suggests that federal authorities are attempting to cover up the crimes of ICE and CBP agents. Please take that fact into consideration when evaluating the merits of funding DHS. ICE’s current leadership should be impeached, fired, and prosecuted for obstruction of justice arising from the interference with Minnesota’s criminal investigations. ICE’s secret database of peaceful protesters must be purged and destroyed, with notice to everyone who was illegally included in the database because they exercised their first amendment rights. There is, of course, more, but Democrats need not be the ones proposing the reforms. You can simply say, “We won’t stand for any of this. We don’t want masked secret police preying on American communities. You want our votes? You solve it. You tell us how you’re going to clean up your mess and the chaos and bloodshed you’ve caused.” The public really, really doesn’t like this. And Republican politicians are looking for ways to get out from under it. So leave behind all the strategizing and negotiating and wait for Republicans to beg you to fund DHS. Otherwise, you are letting down the people who elected you to represent them, people who are literally risking their lives to stop ICE. Let us know you have our backs. Or be prepared for us to turn our backs on you when you next ask for our support. I desperately hope that you will meet the moment and use your leverage to deconstruct and rebuild ICE from the ground up. The conditions for this will never get better. You must act boldly and courageously while you have us backing you at historic levels. If we can’t reform ICE now, with overwhelming support, we may be forced to wait until 2027 or 2029. How many more innocent people will die in the interim?