In neighborhoods across the country, from California to Maine, our families and communities have faced devastating upheaval. As arrests, detentions, and deportations rise, we witness the consequences of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) receiving tens of billions in funding without Congress taking any meaningful action to protect the human dignity and civil rights of U.S. citizens, green card holders, and so many of our immigrant and refugee neighbors.  

Right now, Congress is negotiating funding bills, including a DHS funding bill that would yield more unchecked power and funding for ICE detentions and operations, all while lacking the meaningful accountability measures that all of us have been fighting for. Every one of us deserves to feel safe in our communities—to worship, participate in community life, exercise our rights, and meet our daily needs. This security is rooted in our God given dignity—a dignity that does not depend on circumstance, but on the inherent worth of every person.

Support for your letters: The bill comes amid aa 2,450% increase in the number of people with no criminal record held in ICE detention on any given day, the deadliest year in ICE detention in two decades, and ongoing assaults on human life and use of force by masked federal agents, including against peaceful demonstrators, and at least 10 instances of enforcement on church grounds.