Pardon the delay, I thought I posted this several days back when I sent this to my senators and congressman. In the meantime, seven House Democrats joined the MAGA block to pass an additional $10,000,000,000 for ICE operations, no strings attached. Our elected officials need to get tens of millions of calls if we are to have any hope of getting them to act with a modicum of courage.  Here are my talking points, below is the email I sent to my elected representatives in Congress.

ICE agents should not be armed.   ICE agents should not be allowed to conceal their identities like Ku Klux Klan terrorists.   ICE agents must not be allowed to violate state and federal laws.  ICE must recognize and respect state sovereignty and local jurisdiction over law enforcement.   ICE should not be funded unless these legal limitations can be imposed on them.  Funding them as the administration demands ($70,000 signing bonus, anyone?) is essential for the triumph of authoritarianism.  Restraining an out of control ICE by withholding their budget until reasonable terms are met is the only responsible action to take.

I urge you to vote against funding for DHS/ICE without placing serious limitations on the scope of ICE activities.   Democracy depends on restricting the power of a lawless, heavily armed agency, on an agenda of retribution, intent on the violent escalation of tensions in American cities.  The fake “emergency” the administration cites for ICE deployment in targeted cities is as pretextual as IEEPA is for bombing foreign nations, and private boats, without informing Congress.

Do not vote for a budget that funds ICE in its masked, unrestrained, unaccountable form.  The Trump administration is using heavily armed ICE forces in selected cities, in response to a claimed emergency, to violently provoke responsive violence.   Project 2025’s endgame is a police state.  ICE, led on the ground by serial perjurer US Border Patrol “commander-at-large” Greg Bovino, is the tip of the police state spear.   

If ICE agents deployed this way can violate the law with impunity — smash car windows, tase drivers, tackle and zip tie people, tear gas and pepper spray protesters exercising their First Amendment rights, conduct warrantless, door-to-door searches, use illegal chokeholds, break down doors without warrants, detain people, including citizens, without reasonable suspicion of anything, shoot people in the face — democracy is at an end.

ICE agents should not be armed.   ICE agents must not be allowed to conceal their identities like Ku Klux Klan terrorists.   ICE agents must not be allowed to violate state and federal laws.  ICE must recognize and respect state sovereignty and local jurisdiction over law enforcement.   ICE should not be funded unless these legal limitations can be imposed on them.  Funding them as the administration demands ($70,000 signing bonus, anyone?) is essential for the triumph of authoritarianism.  Restraining an out of control ICE by withholding their budget until reasonable terms are met is the only responsible action to take.

You have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution.  Uphold the Constitution by voting to condition ICE funding on restricting the scope of ICE’s illegal assaults on random citizens and non-citizens.  You are the opposition party, Americans are counting on you to oppose the militarized march to fascism.   

Do not listen to Chuck Schumer and his corporate sponsors.  They orchestrated an end to the MAGA shutdown, without obtaining a single concession for ordinary Americans, a​t a moment, after off-year elections, when Democrats had all the momentum and Trump owned, and was taking the blame for, his shutdown.​   You cannot negotiate with a party that insists on its right to violate even laws their president signed into law.    Schumer doesn’t speak for the majority of Americans, let alone most Democrats.  He certainly doesn’t speak for those who oppose fascism in our country.   Defend the Constitution.