John,

ICE’s pattern of violence is not an accident. It is the predictable result of an agency created by Congress, armed by Congress, yet allowed to operate with no meaningful congressional oversight. As ICE’s heavily militarized raids on civilian neighborhoods and homes expand, civilian deaths are increasing, and accountability has vanished.

The latest killing underscores the seriousness of the threat to our communities. On January 7 in Minneapolis, poet and mother of three Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent, wearing a mask as ICE officers do, eroding their accountability and escalating fear and confusion in moments where restraint should be paramount.

After the killing, the Department of Homeland Security blamed the victim, falsely claiming Good was “violently” threatening agents with her car and that the officer acted in “self-defense“ when he shot her in the face three times at point-blank range. But video footage tells a different story. The car was moving forward slowly and as the agent stepped aside, he fired at least two of his three shots through the open driver’s side window.

President Trump compounded the false narrative, claiming Good had “violently, willfully, and viciously” run over the officer. That claim was false on its face. The officer remained standing throughout the encounter, and video clearly shows space between his outstretched gun and the car window at the moments he fired.

Tragically, this killing is not an isolated incident. Since September, there have been nine ICE shootings, including the fatal shooting of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez during a traffic stop in Chicago. Gonzalez, who had lived in the city for two decades with no criminal record, had just dropped his children at school. Unarmed, he was trying to flee when ICE agents broke through his driver’s side window and shot him through the back of the neck and into his chest.

Other deaths linked to ICE raids include Jaime Alanís Garcia, a California farmworker who fell from a greenhouse roof while fleeing, and Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, killed after being struck by a car while running across a freeway to escape an ICE operation.

These deaths point to a deeper problem: ICE’s recruitment and training culture. ICE materials and internal messaging repeatedly emphasize aggression, domination, and dehumanization -- not only toward immigrants, but toward anyone who might interfere with or question ICE operations. Agents are trained to view civilian neighborhoods as battlefields filled with subhuman enemies.

ICE is Congress’s creation, by legislation and funding. And only Congress has the authority to investigate ICE and hold it accountable. That means subpoenas, sworn testimony, and a full public investigation into ICE’s use of force, recruitment practices, training materials, and command decisions that all contribute to this rising death toll.

Without congressional intervention, this pattern will continue. Masked agents will keep conducting military-style raids in civilian communities, and civilians will keep dying.

Tell Congress to investigate all ICE-related deaths now, and hold ICE accountable.

Thank you for standing up for the fundamental principle that every human life matters -- regardless of immigration status.

– DFA AF Team