Today I take pen in hand to write and urge you to cosponsor and support the Melt ICE Act, just introduced.
As you may know this legislation would end Department of Homeland Security funding for immigrant detention and monitoring, and instead redirect resources toward wrap-around services including housing and healthcare for affected communities.
As we have seen from the headlines, The current operation by Homeland Security is both deadly and unsustainable. Last year became ICE's deadliest in more than two decades, with 32 people dying in custody, particularly in for-profit private detention centers with limited oversight.
How is justice being served?
This violence extends beyond detention facilities. On January 7, 2026, U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good was murdered during an immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis. Her death follows the murders of Silverio Villegas Gonzales and the shooting of Marimar Martinez in Illinois in 2025.
Where is justice for all these people?
The Republican-controlled Congress has handed more than $150 billion to DHS immigration enforcement, and the current appropriations bill allocates $3.84 billion for ICE custody operations and $5.45 billion for Enforcement and Removal Operations.
ICE has become the largest and most unlawful police force in the country, operating the largest immigration detention system in the world with unprecedented funding but limited accountability and transparency.
This cannot continue.
The Melt ICE Act offers a concrete alternative. It would strike all references to immigration detention authority in Sections 236(a), 236(c), 235(b), and 241(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, terminate all existing detention contracts within two years, prevent new detention contracts, and require DHS to submit a plan to remove immigrants from ankle monitors within six months.
Best of all, it redirects ICE funding to community-based organizations providing services that actually support families and communities.
This legislation, developed in collaboration with United We Dream and Detention Watch Network, represents a fundamental shift from enforcement to support.
I urge you to cosponsor the Melt ICE Act and advocate for its passage. Stop ICE. Stop the lawlessness and many violations of civil rights.
Thank you.
First sent on January 21 by Mark
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