Vote NO on DHS funding and defund ICE now!

I am writing as a constituent to demand that you vote against any legislation that funds or expands ICE, including the upcoming DHS appropriations vote, and that you support legislation to cut, claw back, and dismantle ICE’s enforcement and detention apparatus. I am horrified by the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis—an ICU nurse and VA employee killed by federal agents while acting as a legal observer—and by the broader escalation of violence by ICE, CBP, and DHS against protesters and civilians. These killings and deaths are not isolated. ICE violence and lethal neglect have taken many lives, including (not exhaustive): • Roxsana Hernández • Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejía • Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez • Felipe Montes • Geraldo Lunas Campos • Johnny Noviello • José de Jesús Vega • Marco Antonio Muñoz • Rogelio Martinez • Elias Morales • Jesus Contreras • Alejandro Hernandez This list represents a pattern, not anomalies—deaths during raids, transport, restraint, and in ICE custody, frequently tied to medical neglect, excessive force, or cover-ups. The tactics used by ICE and DHS increasingly resemble those of militarized occupation forces: aggressive crowd control, mass surveillance, criminalization of observers, collective punishment, and the rapid labeling of victims as “terrorists.” These similarities are not accidental. For more than two decades, U.S. law enforcement—including DHS, CBP, and ICE—has participated in training exchanges with Israeli security forces and the IDF, importing doctrines and tactics developed under military occupation and repression. Those tactics are now being deployed in American cities. Congress created and sustains this violence. H.R. 1 handed ICE a multi-year enforcement windfall—an unaccountable slush fund—and continued DHS appropriations guarantee its expansion. I urge you to: 1. Vote NO on any DHS appropriations that fund ICE, 2. Support legislation to claw back ICE’s enforcement funding, and 3. Publicly support defunding and dismantling ICE, redirecting resources toward humane, lawful alternatives. Do not express concern while voting to bankroll the next death. If you fund ICE, you are choosing this violence.