Dear Senator Ricketts, Senator Fischer, and Representative Bacon,

I am a constituent writing to you because I am deeply disturbed by recent federal immigration enforcement operations, including multiple fatal shootings in Minneapolis by masked federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These incidents — including the killing of U.S. citizens, kidnapping children and using them as bait for other family members, the arrest of more than 100 faith leaders peacefully protesting the presence of ICE, and the shooting of rubber bullets, pepper spray, and tear gas into crowds of legal observers — have rightfully sparked widespread protests and continue to raise serious questions about  oversight, transparency, and respect for human life. 

Representative Bacon — I am deeply disappointed by your vote to appropriate an additional $10 billion in funding to ICE when the agency continues to operate with impunity and has been responsible for actions that have resulted in the deaths and harm of U.S. citizens.

Senators Ricketts and Fischer — I am urging you not to support this $10 billion increase in funding for ICE as it comes to a vote in the Senate. Just because your colleagues in the House failed to stand for accountability for ICE does not mean you have to follow suit. 

I am infuriated by your collective silence and complicity with an anti-democracy, anti-constitution administration that does not care about acting within the law. Supporting more funding without meaningful accountability and reform measures sends a message that these tactics are acceptable, even as communities suffer the consequences. 

I urge you all to:

• Support strong oversight and independent investigations into these shootings and consequences for any crimes that were committed by federal agents
• Demand transparency and accountability for federal law enforcement actions
• Support the removal of untrained, reactionary, undisciplined federal law enforcement officers from Minnesota, Nebraska, and other communities
• Take action to impeach DHS Secretary Kristi Noem
• Require Congressional approval of any attempt to invoke the Insurrection Act

Our communities — and our country — deserve federal agencies that protect constitutional rights and human life, not ones that operate without restraint.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.