Dear Friends,

I hope you are staying warm in the midst of freezing winter weather and icy roads! With another wintry mix forecast for Wednesday on top of still icy roads, be sure to monitor the National Weather Service in your area here or follow @NWSWakefieldVA on Twitter or Facebook for updates.

The government entered a partial shutdown this past weekend as Congressional Republicans refused to reign in an out-of-control Department of Homeland Security as its ICE and Border Patrol agents create a public safety crisis in communities across America. 

In the wake of the killing of Renee Good, the House passed a stand-alone funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security on January 22nd. I voted no because it did not go nearly far enough to rein in an out-of-control ICE. While provisions of the bill allocated funding for body cameras and provide robust support for FEMA, they do not address the core problem. ICE, Border Patrol and the DHS still operate with too little transparency and too much impunity, and this bill leaves our communities without the accountability they deserve. The House then sent the DHS bill to the Senate attached to a consolidated funding bill for the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and related agencies.

Two days later, Alex Pretti died at the hands of Border Patrol agents, with multiple videos showing those agents needlessly escalated the situation. As outrage spread across the nation in response, Senate Democrats stood with the American people to demand reforms to address DHS and hold ICE and Border Patrol accountable for the chaos and violence unleashed. Enough Senate Republicans joined them to replace the House DHS funding measures with a two-week extension of current funding to permit time to negotiate reforms. 

This Administration has enabled its DHS, ICE and Border Patrol agents to run wild with little to no oversight. This has not made our communities safer, but instead unleashed fear, needlessly shed blood and further traumatized already shaken communities. Over 30 people have died in ICE custody. ICE has detained children, like five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was taken from his driveway returning home from school and transported with his father 1,300 miles away to a detention center in Texas. Whistleblowers have disclosed an internal ICE memo that instructs agents to enter homes without a judge-signed warrant, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. In city after city, ICE has spread terror as masked, untrained officers use aggressive tactics that turn children into collateral, destabilize communities and, in the worst cases, cost lives.

While the Trump Administration claimed it would only go after hardened criminals, it has detained, deported and traumatized individuals — including U.S. citizens — who have never been charged or convicted of a crime. Congress must act now to end the public safety crisis that the Trump Administration’s overly aggressive immigration enforcement efforts created.

Over the past year, I’ve heard from communities across Virginia’s Fourth District, from Chesterfield, Henrico, Petersburg, Richmond and beyond, expressing significant concern about this escalation of violence and lawlessness — now compounded by a recent announcement that the Trump Administration wants to convert warehouses across the country, including one in Hanover County into ICE detention facilities. Even the Republican Hanover County’s Board of Supervisors expressed its opposition to this proposed sale and construction. 

After a pattern of holding people in deplorable conditions with little to no due process, this Administration cannot be trusted to continue its detention and deportation operations. On Friday, I led all five members of the Virginia Democratic House delegation to oppose proposed ICE facilities in Hanover and Stafford Counties, and the Canadian-based company that owns the warehouse has since backed out of the sale.

I spoke with Elek Michaelson on CNN’s The Story Is… last week to discuss this and more.

I am grateful to everyone who has continued to reach out and share what they are seeing, and I urge those in my district and across the Commonwealth to contact my office with any information about ICE activity in your community.

Keep reading for more of what you may have missed since my last newsletter.

ENERGY & COMMERCE COMMITTEE UPDATE: FIGHTING FOR MATERNAL HEALTH THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION 

On Wednesday, January 21st, the full Energy & Commerce Committee me to consider 11 bills relating to environmental regulations and public safety communications. In this hearing, I focused on the CLEAR Act, a Republican effort to morph the Clean Air Act into a law that puts industry’s bottom line over public health. Rolling back environmental protections puts entire communities at risk, especially children, the elderly and mothers.

I spoke in favor of Ranking Member Pallone’s amendment to preserve the heart of the Clean Air Act, sharing the link between oil and gas pollution and higher rates of fetal health concerns and preterm birth.

Last month, the EPA announced that it would disregard the value of human life when considering regulation. As an agency created to protect the environment and public health, this is absolutely unconscionable. As members of Congress, we have the responsibility to hold the EPA accountable for its failure to abide by its core mission, and I will keep speaking up for the well-being of the American people in committee and beyond.

COMMEMORATING ROE

January 22nd marked the 53rd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, which for nearly half a century guaranteed Americans the right to an abortion. The Dobbs v. Whole Women’s Health decision ripped that right away in 2022, ushering in a wave of abortion bans and extreme health care restrictions that further undermine reproductive freedom, including access to contraception and fertility care.

I joined Reproductive Freedom Caucus Co-Chair Representative Diana DeGette to convene a roundtable with Planned Parenthood President and CEO Alexis McGIll Johnson and members of Congress to celebrate the impacts Roe has had on patient privacy, while discussing the work that remains to be done since the Court’s reversal. The through line was clear: after one year of the Trump Administration and nearly six months since the Big Ugly Bill was signed into law, 2026 will be about whether we hold the line for patients and providers and keep politicians out of personal health care decisions. The advocacy of groups like Planned Parenthood is critical in this fight, and I was honored to help express that gratitude to Alexis and those in attendance. 

Reproductive freedom remains a public health, social justice, economic, civil rights and human rights issue. As Chair of the Abortion Rights and Access Taskforce, I will keep fighting to bring stability and access back to reproductive health care. 

MY BRIGHT SPOT: WALK FOR PEACE

In October of last year, Buddhist monks embarked from Fort Worth, Texas on their annual Walk for Peace to Washington, D.C. to promote peace, compassion and nonviolence. This past weekend, their 2,300-mile barefoot pilgrimage brought them to Virginia’s Fourth Congressional District, where they were welcomed throughout by supporters of their mission. 

In these chaotic and trying times, their journey is more important now than ever as a reminder to choose love over hate. The monks arrived for dinner in Brunswick County, walked through Dinwiddie, Petersburg, Chesterfield, Richmond and Henrico, overnighting at Virginia State and Virginia Union Universities on their way to our nation’s capital. We wish the monks and their dog Aloka safe travels and hope they enjoyed their stay! I look forward to welcoming them to the U.S. Capitol next week.

REMINDERS

The 2026 Black History Month Essay Contest for middle and high school students across Virginia’s Fourth is now open! Essays can be submitted to [email protected] by Friday, February 13th. You can find more information here.

The 2026 Valentines for Veterans Program is now collecting Valentine’s Day cards to be distributed to veterans in the Fourth District. You can submit Valentines by mail or in person to my Richmond or Brunswick District Offices by Monday, February 9th for distribution on February 13th. Residents unable to send their cards to either office may coordinate a pick-up by calling the Richmond District Office at (804) 486-1840. You can find more information here.

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