John,

I’m joining my community in demanding the release of a Detroit high schooler who was stopped on his way to a field trip—he’s currently in ICE detention and is at risk of immediate deportation. Now folks are also protesting in response to today’s outrageous news: Five immigrants who showed up for asylum cases in Detroit today were detained in the courtroom, and had their protected status revoked without explanation.

In Michigan, Los Angeles, and around the country, people have been coming together to protect their immigrant neighbors and protest ICE. We know that ICE kidnaps children, tears apart families, and makes all of us less safe.

Just over 20 years ago, the agency was created to criminalize, dehumanize, and terrorize immigrants. Its agents have done so under Democratic and Republican administrations. Now, corporations run most of ICE’s detention centers and Trump is working with Republican Congressmembers to send those for-profit private prison corporations billions more taxpayer dollars.

I’ve visited inhumane detention centers, introduced policies to free people from ICE detention, and pushed to hold ICE accountable for human rights abuses—including forced sterilizations, sexual assault, and fatal medical neglect. This agency is rooted in racism and pain; it cannot be reformed.

I’m with the people: It’s time to defund and abolish ICE.

Will you join me and people across the country in speaking out to abolish ICE and end mass deportations?

As a former immigration attorney, I want to clarify that immigration legal proceedings fall under civil law—not criminal law. Migration is not a crime, and we must push back against the criminalization of immigrants.

During his first term, I blocked Trump’s attempts to collect DNA from immigrant detainees, including residents of Detroit as young as 14 years old.

Now I’m working with grassroots immigrant justice groups in my district to run Know Your Rights trainings, connect families with free legal assistance, and support people on their path to obtaining citizenship.

I will keep pushing for a just and humane immigration system, with paths to citizenship for immigrants and asylum-seekers. And I will not back down in the fight against Trump’s attacks on our communities and our rights.

Let’s raise our voices together and demand an end to mass deportations, mass detentions, and ICE!

Thank you. Together we will resist harmful policies that demonize our neighbors, and we will continue demanding a future with dignity and safety for all people.

In solidarity,

Rashida