John,
Congress is negotiating federal funding bills right now, including the Department of Homeland Security budget. That means lawmakers are actively deciding whether our tax dollars will continue to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations that have resulted in killings, shootings, and deadly conditions in detention facilities.[1]
People are literally dying while Congress continues writing checks. That reality was laid bare on January 7, 2026, when ICE agents shot and killed Renee Nicole Good during an ICE operation in Minneapolis.[2]
Her killing is under investigation and exemplifies the lethal consequences of unchecked ICE tactics. Detention deaths have reached levels not seen in decades. Investigations are now underway into these abuses, including the fatal shooting of Renee Good and a broader pattern of lethal force and medical neglect. Congress cannot claim ignorance.
Continuing to fund DHS and ICE while these investigations proceed is an active choice to tolerate violence. Congress has already poured tens of billions of dollars into ICE and DHS through last year’s Big Brutal Bill. That money expanded detention, intensified raids, and deepened surveillance of immigrant communities. Instead of safety or accountability, it delivered more suffering. Now Congress is being asked to shovel even more funding into a system already proven to be deadly and lawless.
Demand Congress stop funding DHS and ICE’s inhumane and lethal tactics while investigations are underway.
Our tax dollars are flowing straight to corporate contractors that profit from this machinery of harm. For instance, ICE relies on surveillance systems from Palantir. They’re described as mission critical for raids and deportations, pulling together massive amounts of personal data to target immigrant families.
Budgets are moral documents. When Congress funds ICE during active investigations into killings and systemic abuse, it signals that immigrant lives are disposable and that accountability can wait. That message reverberates far beyond ICE raids and detention centers. It tells law-enforcement agencies of all kinds that they can escalate violence first and answer questions later.
This is also a tax fairness issue. Working families are told resources are scarce, yet Congress keeps finding billions for detention camps, surveillance contracts, and expanded enforcement. Our tax dollars should be invested in healthcare, housing, and community safety, not in systems that terrorize families and funnel public money to private contractors.
The same corporations benefiting from ICE and DHS contracts are already winners under Trump’s tax law, enjoying massive tax breaks while public services are starved. That creates a double payoff: taxpayer-funded contracts on one hand and tax avoidance on the other. Immigrant communities pay the price twice.
Congress still has time to act. Tell Lawmakers to halt DHS funding negotiations, refuse to expand detention or surveillance, and stop writing blank checks for agencies under investigation. Accountability cannot come after the money is spent.
Together, we will end taxpayer-funded abuse of immigrant communities.
David Kass
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
[1] Congress Should Stop Homeland Security Funding While Investigations Proceed
[2] What we know one day after the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis
