John,

Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on a set of appropriations bills to fund government agencies.

One funding bill would give $65 billion to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes ICE and Border Patrol.

Our government seems to always find money for violence and war, but not a penny for our communities’ needs.

Instead of adding more money to Trump’s racist deportation scheme, we should be spending taxpayer money on erasing medical debt or covering every American’s out-of-pocket prescription drug costs.

Sign to demand Congress defund and abolish ICE. Instead of spending billions more taxpayer dollars for the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to kill more of our neighbors and violate our rights, our government should fund healthcare and other critical community needs.

Last week I went to Minnesota to witness and speak up against how ICE is terrorizing our communities.

After killing Renee Good, lawless ICE agents with tanks and big guns have been storming into U.S. citizens’ homes, blowing up front doors and grabbing people. They’re detaining Native Americans and senior U.S. citizens who are underdressed for the freezing cold.

They’re using tear gas and other dangerous and potentially fatal chemicals, hospitalizing bystanders, including babies. They’re racially profiling Black and Brown residents and kidnapping people off the street, leaving cars idling and dogs abandoned.

They continually rip apart families, including deporting young students from my district. They’re holding Americans of various immigration statuses in horrific conditions. We just learned about an ICE officer who raped a woman in detention for months as a condition for seeing her daughter. We know ICE has forcibly sterilized women in detention centers.

Since ICE began in 2003, our immigrant neighbors have been sounding the alarm about how ICE abuses our rights, but the funding has continued to increase.

Last year hit a record, with $170 billion taxpayer dollars going to DHS; $85 billion went to ICE.

Last year was ICE’s deadliest year in decades, and ICE nearly doubled the number of people in detention. Despite the unprecedented increase in funding, ICE illegally stopped paying for detainees’ necessary medical care. In just the last three weeks, at least 5 immigrants have died while in ICE custody!

We must defend the lives and constitutional rights of all who call this country home.

As the Republican House Speaker said last week, ICE is doing what it’s designed to do. We cannot reform ICE. We must defund and abolish it.

Please sign now to demand Congress vote NO on any bill that would give even more taxpayer money to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Instead of expanding ICE’s ability to kidnap and kill our neighbors, Congress must defund ICE and invest those billions of taxpayer dollars into life-saving needs such as healthcare.

For the first time, more Americans want to abolish ICE than keep the agency. Already this month, people have come out to thousands of anti-ICE protests across the country. And every day, we see videos of people forcing ICE agents to leave their neighborhoods and successfully rescuing their neighbors from ICE agents’ attempted kidnappings.

I promise to keep standing with the people and defending our communities from state violence.

During Trump’s first administration, I passed amendments to block DHS from collecting detainees’ DNA and to defund programs that sent federal agents to U.S. cities. I’ve introduced bills to protect immigrant families, called on the UN to investigate the Department of Homeland Security, visited detention centers and held hearings to shine a light on their abuses, and raised funds for immigrant-led groups.

I will keep doing all I can, including holding Know Your Rights workshops and events to keep our communities safe and help people attain U.S. citizenship.

My team and I have also compiled resources to help defend your immigrant neighbors and loved ones here.

In love and solidarity,

Rashida