1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to vote against the fiscal year 2026 Department of Homeland Security funding bill and instead support a continuing resolution that does not provide additional funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The killing of Renee Good and the subsequent shooting incident on Wednesday night demonstrate that ICE operates without adequate accountability. These tragedies, combined with ICE's treatment of U.S. citizens and immigrants, make it impossible to justify providing this agency with more resources. As Senate Appropriations Committee ranking Democrat Patty Murray stated, ICE has enough money. Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act already included tens of billions of dollars in new funding that President Donald Trump's administration is using for a nationwide immigration crackdown, including hiring thousands of new ICE agents and building new detention centers. Providing additional funding to ICE while the agency simultaneously makes it harder for lawmakers to inspect detention facilities is unacceptable. Congress cannot write a blank check to an agency that refuses oversight and accountability. The current appropriations process should not reward this behavior with increased resources. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has stated there is currently no bipartisan path forward for DHS funding, and appropriators are working on language to address Democratic concerns. However, any bill that provides new funding for ICE or lacks meaningful accountability measures fails to address the fundamental problem. I understand the concern about funding other critical national security priorities within DHS. A continuing resolution addresses this by maintaining current funding levels for essential security functions without rewarding ICE's recent conduct with additional resources. This approach protects necessary security operations while refusing to expand an agency that has demonstrated it cannot be trusted with more funding. I urge you to vote no on the FY2026 DHS funding bill and support a continuing resolution instead.