longer.blue

Subject-ICE Funding, Accountability, and the Boiling Point of the American People Dear Senator Durbin, Senator Adam Schiff recently suggested that Democrats should be “circumspect” about initiating legislative battles if they do not already have the votes to win them, specifically on issues such as constraining ICE. With respect, the American people are exhausted by circumspection. We are tired of caution. We are tired of political timidity. And we are tired of watching Democratic leadership fight less aggressively than the very people who elected them. The public is already in the fight. What we are waiting for is for our representatives to join us with the same urgency and resolve. ICE is clearly not operating within the bounds of the law. Its repeated abuses, lack of transparency, and apparent immunity from accountability are well-documented and painfully visible. Under these conditions, it is indefensible that any Senator would vote to triple ICE’s budget. Rewarding lawlessness with more money is not governance; it is complicity. Representative Seth Moulton has rightly stated that we should not be tripling funding for an agency that is behaving as though it is above the law. Yet here we are, debating whether to approve a staggering $75 billion budget for ICE before a January 30 deadline, while arguing over cosmetic “guardrails” such as banning masks or requiring body cameras. Let’s be honest: this debate is absurd. Donald Trump has never respected guardrails. He has bulldozed every norm, safeguard, and institutional check placed in his way. The Constitution itself is filled with guardrails, but they have not stopped the daily carnage, cruelty, and erosion of human rights we are witnessing across this nation. We, the People, elected representatives to reflect our will, our demands, and our moral compass. Too often, however, those representatives appear to serve only one interest: Donald Trump’s. And the reason is painfully clear: political self-preservation. Holding onto power has taken precedence over doing what is right. Representative Jared Golden argues that we should not defund an entire law enforcement agency because of the actions of “a few.” But this is not a conventional law enforcement agency; it is ICE. And the “few” he refers to include agents who have already caused irreversible harm. One of those agents recently shot and killed an innocent American mother, Rene Good. And yet, Congress is prepared to hand over three times the funding to what has effectively become Trump’s private police force. My mother used to say, “Watch the pot, and make sure the soup doesn’t boil over.” Senator, the American pot is boiling. The anger, fear, and despair people feel are real and justified. It is now up to you, and everyone on Capitol Hill, to turn down the heat before it boils over entirely. History will not judge caution kindly in moments that demand courage. Respectfully, David Piekarczyk