Indivisibles,

Masked federal agents are terrorizing our communities. They're teargassing babies, kidnapping our neighbors, shooting clergy in the face with chemical projectiles, and killing innocent people.

But right now we have an opportunity to rein in ICE at the federal level.

ICE and Border Patrol are part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is currently funded only through January 30. The new funding bill that’s currently being written is our opportunity to put significant restrictions on ICE and ensure it doesn’t get a single penny more to enable its brutality. 

This is a winnable fight, if we can convince Congressional Democrats to hold firm. So we need to act fast, and we need to be loud.  

Our Demands 

We firmly believe that stripping the entire broken and abusive Department of Homeland “Security” down to the studs is the moderate position at this point, and that when we regain power, we need to do that as soon as possible.

But we can’t wait until the next election to do something about ICE’s lawlessness. So we’ve worked with allies and experts to come up with meaningful restrictions that we can place on ICE in the upcoming appropriations bill. 

Right now we’re demanding that every Member of Congress (but particularly Democrats, who should be leading this fight):

❌ Reject increased funding for ICE or Border Patrol: The budgets for ICE and Border Patrol have already skyrocketed. Every Member of Congress should refuse to give another penny to these agencies as they tear apart our communities.

✅ Restrict ICE and Border Patrol’s ability to conduct dragnet arrest operations and target people based on their race, language or accent, place of employment, or location at the time of the apprehension. These agencies have secretively created a mass surveillance apparatus that uses dragnet techniques to forcibly collect and track biometric data on American citizens and immigrants alike without any legislative, judicial, or public oversight.

✅ End Border Patrol deployments to our cities and reject its ever-expanding mandate in immigration enforcement. Trump’s DHS has been deploying Border Patrol in complex immigration enforcement campaigns in cities far from any border, harassing communities, and refusing to communicate with local law enforcement.

✅ Limit DHS's reprogramming and transfer authority, including specifically preventing reprogramming and transferring funds for detention. This prohibits DHS from continuing to move money around to fuel ICE and Border Patrol lawlessness. 

The Wonky Details

Republicans hold majorities in the House and Senate -- but funding bills (called “appropriations”) must clear 60 votes in the Senate to proceed. That means the funding bill for DHS cannot pass without Democratic votes. 

If you have Democratic MoCs: We need your help to stiffen their spines. Democrats have the opportunity to put a check on the Trump regime’s abuse of power. But we’ve seen them forfeit this leverage before. In March, they handed Trump and Elon Musk a blank check that included hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding for ICE. In November, they caved in the shutdown fight without a deal to address the Republican-caused healthcare crisis.

As a brutal secret police force terrorizes our communities and kills innocent people, we need our Democratic Members of Congress to use their leverage and fight for us -- but they’ll only do so if we demand that they do.

If you have Republican MoCs: They need to hear from you, too. Most Republicans continue to rubberstamp Trump’s atrocities, but some are becoming bolder in criticizing ICE’s lawlessness as ICE’s public approval plummets in real time. The louder we are, the harder it will be for Republicans to continue backing ICE without any guardrails on its brutality.

How to Take Action

Funding for DHS runs out in fifteen days. Here’s how you can take action right now to rein in ICE and Border Patrol:  

1️⃣ Use our call scripts and email tool to contact your Members of Congress. Demand they vote no on any funding bill that doesn’t include restrictions on ICE and Border Patrol or increases their already bloated budgets:

2️⃣ Plan a visit to your Senator’s district office. The Senate will be in recess from January 17-25. This is the perfect time for visits to your Senators’ district offices and other local actions to make it impossible for them to ignore their constituents’ demands.

3️⃣ Read and share our full explainer. For more information and more ways you can take action online and in your communities, check out our full explainer. 

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team