Congress is negotiating a deal to fund Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that is killing people in the streets, taking our children, and trampling our rights. Republicans have chosen to shut down DHS while negotiations continue and ICE and Border Patrol continue terrorizing our communities with unchecked violence on taxpayers’ dime. We must keep up the pressure on Congress to protect our communities.
QUICK OVERVIEW
The Trump regime is terrorizing our communities with brutal immigration enforcement campaigns designed to test the limits of executive power and the nation’s willingness to stand up against Trump’s power grab. Masked federal agents are teargassing babies and pastors, kidnapping our neighbors and shipping them off to foreign torture prisons, and killing innocent people. This pattern of unchecked violence and abuse by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Border Patrol, and other federal law enforcement agencies must end.
All Members of Congress must cut off ICE and Border Patrol’s slush funds and demand major reforms of these reckless agencies’ operations as a bare minimum redline for any DHS funding deal. Until we can take DHS down to the studs and end the mass deportation machine and brutal secret police once and for all, Congress must take action to stop Trump’s violence escalating across the country. Every day ICE and Border Patrol continue to be funded to terrorize our communities is an all-hands-on-deck crisis.
Democrats have leverage, and they have to use it. Funding bills are subject to the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate–and Democrats took an important first step by using that to stop a full funding bill for ICE and Border Patrol. That’s a start. Now they need to continue holding the line and secure a deal that ends this lawless violence. We will hold every Member of Congress accountable who votes for any funding bill that fails this litmus test
READY TO TAKE ACTION NOW?
If you’re ready to take action already and don’t need any more background, here are quick links to the tools you can use to contact your Members of Congress. Otherwise, read on for everything you need to know about this fight and how you can take action.
Tell Your Representative: Not a penny more for ICE brutality
THE WONKY DETAILS
THE PROBLEM
Our grassroots organizing in the wake of ICE and Border Patrol killing Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota has created a backlash against ICE that spans parties. Everything about these agencies’ brutal invasion of our communities is horrific, but we’ve shown that Trump’s authoritarian tactics can be defeated when everyday people fight back. Polling shows the public is outraged by ICE and Border Patrol’s lawlessness and strongly backs serious reforms.
We can’t forget that Republicans already stole money from healthcare and other basic needs programs to shower multi-year funding on ICE and Border Patrol. Trump’s Big Ugly Bill cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and other crucial programs in order to funnel $170 billion to powering his mass deportation machine, including tripling ICE’s annual budget.
Let’s be clear: Trump’s immigration agenda isn’t about public safety but about racial suppression and political control. It’s grounded in a white supremacist vision of America—one where power is easier to hold when society is more homogenous, and those who don’t “belong” are either silenced, deported, or too afraid to exist freely. This moment is an opportunity to demand accountability for ICE and further crystallize thegrowing public opposition to MAGA’s extreme and deadly anti-immigration agenda.
THE SOLUTION
Republicans hold majorities in the House and Senate–but funding bills (called “appropriations”) must clear 60 votes in the Senate to proceed, so Democrats have real leverage in this fight–and they’re using it. Senate Democrats blocked attempts to push through more ICE and Border Patrol funding before the DHS shutdown deadline on February 13.
We need Democrats to continue holding the line and refuse to vote for any DHS funding bill–including any temporary stopgap measures–unless it cuts off ICE and Border Patrol’s slush funds and imposes ironclad restrictions on these agencies to stop the violence they’re perpetrating in our communities. This is the bare minimum needed until we can tear DHS down to the studs and completely overhaul our immigration system in this country.
Democratic Leaders Jeffries and Schumer need to do everything they can to unify Democrats around strong, concrete redlines for any DHS funding agreement.
Instead of sitting down with Democrats to negotiate a bill that holds ICE and Border Patrol accountable, Republicans chose to wholesale reject reasonable proposals, and shut down DHS while negotiations continue. As the party in control of both Congress and the White House, Republicans are 100% to blame for insisting on shutting down the entire department instead of stopping the violence being inflicted by ICE and Border Patrol on their own constituents.
While most Republicans continue to rubberstamp Trump’s atrocities, some are becoming bolder in criticizing ICE’s lawlessness and pattern of shredding constitutional protections. The louder we are and the more we organize our communities to take action, the harder it will be for Republicans to continue backing Trump’s terror campaign.
OUR DEMANDS
Alex Pretti and Renee Good’s killings are part of a broader pattern of unchecked violence, impunity, and abuse carried out by federal immigration enforcement agencies against our communities.
We know that many changes are necessary to halt this assault on our communities. Indivisible is organizing around these demands that have the potential to move via the appropriations fight. These are a starting point for the full scope of what changes need to take place at DHS.
Congress must refuse to fund ICE and Border Patrol without serious reforms. Every Member of Congress should publicly oppose the DHS appropriations bill unless it:
Ensures not one penny more moves to ICE or Border Patrol. ICE alone already has a budget bigger than most countries’ militaries. No reforms, as necessary as they are, could justify funneling even more taxpayer dollars to Trump’s secret police and mass deportation machine.
Pulls ICE and Border Patrol out of Minneapolis and the rest of our communities. The announced reduction of the number of agents in Minnesota is an important first step—now we need to see results, and demand that Congress demonstrate an iota of the urgency and courage that Minnesotans have shown in their fight to hold ICE and Border Patrol accountable.
Stops ICE or Border Patrol enforcement at designated ‘sensitive locations’ such as houses of worship, day cares, and hospitals. These locations are meant to provide vital services, and should not become sites of intimidation or threats of violence.
Ends Kavanaugh Stops. The bill must prohibit ICE and Border Patrol from targeting people based on their race, language or accent, place of employment, or location at the time of the apprehension.
Ends Warrantless Arrests. Congress must put an end to the administration’s unlawful practice of arresting people without a warrant, and entering homes without a judicial warrant.
We can’t wait around while ICE harms more people. Indivisible and our coalition partners demand that Congress write a DHS appropriations bill that halts the violence being perpetrated in our communities by ICE and Border Patrol and holds immigration agents accountable. Long term, we know that there is deeper work to strip DHS all the way down to the studs. And of course we urgently need to ensure Minnesota state and local authorities can investigate and deliver justice for the shootings of Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti. This fight is the first of many to halt the terror.
Frequently Asked Questions
Doesn’t ICE already have a ton of money?
Yes, ICE’s budget exploded under Trump’s Big Ugly Bill, so the agency will still be flush with cash to keep operating even though DHS is shut down. That’s why Democrats must demand enforceable restrictions on existing DHS funding, as well as pursue clawing back the money Republicans showered on ICE and Border Patrol in the Big Ugly Bill.
Aren’t other things also funded by DHS? Why should we risk those programs?
Yes, agencies like FEMA and TSA are both funded by the DHS appropriations bill and are impacted by the shutdown that Republicans have caused by refusing to negotiate meaningful reforms for ICE and Border Patrol.
We know government shutdowns are enormously disruptive; so is the terror campaign being waged by ICE and Border Patrol every day against our communities. We need to make sure our communities know Republicans bear the full responsibility for shutting down DHS as a result of their refusal to negotiate provisions that stop ICE and Border Patrol from violating our rights and making our neighborhoods less safe. Additionally, Democrats have proposed funding all parts of DHS other than ICE, Border Patrol, and the Office of the Secretary, so things like FEMA emergency response would be unaffected. Republicans can agree to that at any time. Any pain from this shutdown is entirely a choice by Republicans to inflict on the very people they represent.
Why should we reach out when Democrats already folded in the last two big appropriations fights?
Our demands are for the bare minimum of accountability on the Trump regime’s authoritarian actions.
We are realistic–we know we won’t get every reform we want under Republican governance. But we must insist Congress reject a business-as-usual approach to funding Trump’s DHS. Without constituent pressure, Republicans will rubber stamp historic levels of funding for ICE and Border Patrol, with help from some Democrats. We cannot accept our elected officials ignoring what is happening every day on the streets, in our communities, and across the federal government. Trump is, at every turn, trying to consolidate authoritarian power. Members of Congress, regardless of their party, need to know that silence is not an option, even when there are risks to acting.
What happens if just DHS shuts down? Does that stop ICE and Border Patrol from operation?
Unfortunately, no, that’s not how it would work.
DHS already has a huge pile of money from the Big Ugly Bill that they could continue to draw on, even if appropriations lapsed. And because the federal government has wide latitude to deem certain staff and operations “essential” even in a shutdown, they could simply do that for practically all of DHS, and ICE agents would continue to invade and occupy our cities. That’s why we’re pushing for meaningful restrictions on ICE’s operations to be passed into law, rather than blanket refusal to support any bill. Without those restrictions, there is simply no excuse for giving the agency a single dollar more.
As Congress debates the DHS appropriations bill, your Members especially Senators—need to hear from you!
Demand accountability, transparency, and immediate investigation into the killing of Renee Good–including that the FBI release all related records to and cooperate with Minnesota local authorities. We need an independent investigation.
Each jurisdiction has its own laws, governing structures, and local needs. Please follow the lead of immigrant rights organizations on the ground, and tailor them to your own context.
Prepare your states and cities now for potential DHS enforcement operations in the near-future. Have a rapid response plan in place, and conduct Know Your Rights trainings with community members and leaders.
Make sure your police departments know they are there to protect residents, not work with ICE to brutalize them. That means:
No collaboration with secret police
NO SECRET POLICE: Ban law enforcement from being unidentifiable. No masks. No unmarked cars, etc.
End 287(g) agreements
Pause evictions. Ramp up meals programs. Ensure that people’s basic needs are met.
Train schools and teachers so they are ready.
Prepare to run your own investigations of ICE abuses, and hold agents who break the law accountable. Videotape your own evidence so the FBI cannot run a cover-up for another ICE killing in your city. Ensure you know the limits of your legal authorities, and be prepared to maximize them.
