Now, ICE has become the largest federal law enforcement agency in U.S. history. This violence is not going to end by nicely asking Kristi Noem or Tom Homan to stop. Congress should not give them one more dime.
We should still have an immigration system, one with secure borders and immigration courts. When violent criminals commit crimes, state and local police will be there to arrest them. In fact, our sanctuary city laws already provide for cooperation with the federal government when someone is convicted of a serious or violent offense.
But let's be clear John: that's not what's happening right now.
ICE agents are kidnapping people with no criminal history whatsoever — in the hallways of immigration court at 26 federal plaza, in the streets of our cities, at their workplaces, and even at their kids' schools. Perhaps most hideously, as we saw with Liam Ramos, even their kids. ICE is violating their due process rights, putting them in hideous detention facilities, and sometimes sending them to third countries they've never even been to before (that’s the “pretermission” crisis I’ve been calling attention to recently).
ICE isn't going after the "worst of the worst." In many cases, they've become the worst of the worst.
John, if our country is to have a free and safe future, ICE can't be a part of it, and the individuals who committed these crimes need to be prosecuted for it — from the ones who killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti, all the way up to Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller.
The people who are working so hard to protect their neighbors, through ICE watch, through courtwatching, through mutual aid, and by protesting peacefully across the country deserve members of Congress who fight just as hard as they do. To achieve real change, we need to work "inside out," with elected officials working in the government collaboratively with activists and organizers in our communities.
I traveled to Minneapolis last week to hear and learn from them, and to bring their inspiration and strategies back to New York – so that we can try to prevent some of the heartbreak they’ve had to endure. I want the chance to give them the fighter they deserve in Congress, but I need your help to get there. Can you chip in to support my campaign today?
