An Open Letter to Congress on Funding for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security
The Trump Administration has killed two American citizens who were exercising their First Amendment rights to assemble, speak, and protest against ICE and Border Patrol conduct in Minnesota. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-second-u-s-citizen-was-killed-by-federal-forces-in-minneapolis-heres-what-we-know It has tried to cover up its own gross misconduct and to claim the dead Americans were “domestic terrorists”; that was a flat out lie. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-second-u-s-citizen-was-killed-by-federal-forces-in-minneapolis-heres-what-we-know It also claims that local and state Democratic politicians were at fault for Homeland Security’s repeated heinous behavior. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/us/politics/minneapolis-killing-trump-defiant-response.html That too is a complete falsehood and fabrication. DHS has been repeatedly flouting federal judicial orders on immigration. https://www.npr.org/2026/01/31/nx-s1-5693175/judge-says-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-has-violated-96-court-orders-this-month-in-minn It has exiled individual deportees to foreign countries like Uganda and South Sudan with which they have no connections. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/what-are-third-country-removals-factsheet/ It has exiled people to and contracted with known torture prisons in El Salvador. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-deported-venezuelans-endured-at-cecot-60-minutes/ It is breaking down doors and entering homes without the judicially approved warrants required by the 4th Amendment of our Constitution. https://www.npr.org/2026/01/25/nx-s1-5685400/internal-dhs-memo-says-ice-agents-can-enter-homes-without-a-judicial-warrant DHS has begun spying on and compiling vast data bases on those Americans who protest and oppose its unlawful conduct. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/29/ice-tracking-tools-protesters-00755703 Its behavior over the past year has routinely violated the US Constitution, the American rule of law, and the requirements of international law in its treatment of foreign nationals and US citizens.
What should be done? Congress needs to intervene now using its oversight powers, its investigative roles and its control over the purse strings financing the Administration’s efforts to terrorize the residents of American cities. Secretary Noem has clear responsibility for the gross misconduct of ICE and the Border Patrol; she ought to be impeached, tried and removed from office for the high crimes and misdemeanors being committed by DHS agents under her control and acting at her behest. https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S4-2/ALDE_00000689/ Lawyers from the Administration approved these repeated and egregious violations of the Constitution which they took an oath to honor and defend, and repeated lies were told to judges in court proceedings, to the press and to the General public on behalf of DHS. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.inbar.org/resource/resmgr/litigation/Oaths.pdf Those who have done so in violation of the canons of legal ethics ought to be subject to state disbarment proceedings or such other sanctions as state licensing agencies determine appropriate. https://www.calbar.ca.gov/sites/default/files/agenda/agendaitem1000010864.pdf Individual DHS agents shot and killed Mr. Pretti and Ms. Good. They ought to be prosecuted by local and state governments if the high standards necessary for a successful prosecution of those responsible for killing US citizens can be met. https://statecourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/when-can-states-prosecute-federal-agents Congress should consider how to set better standards for the prosecution of government law enforcement officials engaging in criminal conduct. A Special Counsel of unquestioned integrity and impeccable standards of conduct should be appointed to investigate the roles, responsibility, and culpability of those in the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the White House who have orchestrated and carried out these repeated attacks upon the rights, property, lives, sacred reputations, the domestic tranquility, and livelihoods of Americans.
I am not saying “abolish ICE”, nor am I advocating “open borders”. I am urging that we conduct our immigration policies consistent with the US Constitution, with the best values of the American people, and consistent with the ways we would each like to be treated by law enforcement when visiting other countries and by law enforcement in our own country. Contrary to the Administration’s rhetoric about immigration enforcement, recent data indicates that only 5% of ICE detainees have been convicted of a violent crime. https://www.cato.org/blog/5-ice-detainees-have-violent-convictions-73-no-convictions ICE is for the most part detaining and deporting gardeners and busboys, farm workers and car washers, not hardened gangsters or dangerous rapists. This misguided targeting of immigration enforcement hurts the American economy and fuels inflation; it is of no economic benefit. Now that the nation’s borders have been successfully closed, not a small achievement, what we do need is debate and enactment of thoughtful immigration reform, . See https://www.cato.org/testimony/unlocking-americas-potential-how-immigration-fuels-economic-growth-our-competitive