John,

Across the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is operating with sweeping authority, minimal oversight, and devastating consequences. Communities are living in fear, while families are being torn apart, U.S. citizens and longtime residents are being swept up in aggressive raids, and bystanders and protestors are being tear gassed and permanently blinded.

Democrats in both the House and Senate are finally saying what must be said out loud: ICE cannot continue to receive unlimited funding while it acts with impunity. Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and senators like Chris Murphy are calling out ICE’s record of violence, secrecy, and abuse. They are right, but they cannot stand alone.

For years, Congress has funded ICE first and asked questions later, if at all. The result? Internal investigations stall while civil rights violations go unanswered and oversight mechanisms are ignored. Each new appropriation becomes a green light for more abuses of power. Funding without reform is not neutrality. It is an endorsement.

This moment demands clarity. Congress must refuse to fund ICE unless and until there are binding, enforceable reforms that rein in abuses, establish real accountability, and protect basic human rights.

Democrats have the numbers to draw this line and some Republicans just might join them. What they need now is public pressure to hold it. Tell Congress to oppose all ICE funding that does not include real, systemic reforms.

From deadly encounters to secretive detention practices, ICE is acting with total impunity to terrorize communities across the country. Without structural change, more money will fuel even worse abuses.

If I had my way, ICE would be abolished and Border Patrol agents sent back to the border. But this isn’t going to happen under Trump and his Republican lapdogs in Congress.

That's why, in the meantime, Democrats must refuse to provide any more funding for Trump’s immigration police unless they:

• Take off their masks.

• Wear ID.

• Adopt and follow basic standards of professional policing.

• Ban armed immigration agents from aimlessly roaming our streets to provoke conflict.

• Investigate and punish agents who kill, beat, or unlawfully detain people.

Republicans want Democrats to quietly approve funding and move on. That is exactly how ICE has escaped accountability for years. Democrats must force reform and responsibility. No more blank checks.

Tell Congress: no funding for ICE without real reform and real accountability.

We will stop Trump not with violence but with our steadfast dedication to democracy, the rule of law, and social justice. We will build an America whose strength comes not from its bombs and bullets but from its moral authority.

We will win and we will rebuild. We have no choice.

You may want to scream but can’t find your voice because you’re so shocked and frightened.

Please do not succumb to helplessness, despair, or fear.

You are needed. Desperately.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action