Restoring DHS Funding with Professional Accountability Standards

I am writing to you regarding the ongoing lapse in funding for the Department of Homeland Security. While it is important that our national security agencies are fully funded and our borders are secure, I am concerned that the current stalemate is a result of a lack of clear, professional standards for ICE and CBP. As a member of the Homeland Security Committee, I urge you to call for operational reforms to ensure DHS functions as a professional, top-tier law enforcement body: -- Mandatory Body-Worn Cameras: Requiring cameras for all agents conducting enforcement operations protects professional agents from false accusations and ensures accountability to the public. -- Modernized Use-of-Force Training: Ensuring ICE and CBP operate as world-class, professional law enforcement organizations with updated protocols. -- Aligning Patrols with Local Police: Engaging protocols that align federal 'roving' patrols with standard local law enforcement practices. This ensures that federal actions do not conflict with or override the authority of local police departments. -- Restoring Public Trust: Following recent high-profile violent incidents involving federal agents, it is vital that DHS adopts the same transparency and body-camera standards we expect from our best local departments to protect both the community and the integrity of the agents themselves. We need a DHS that is both strong and professional. I ask that you lead on finding a compromise that restores funding while implementing the common-sense oversight measures that Ohioans expect from their federal law enforcement.