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Dear Friend,
Over the last several months, the Trump Administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has unleashed a campaign of fear across American cities, deploying thousands of immigration agents onto our streets and in our neighborhoods in an effort to terrorize and punish our communities.
Tragically, DHS agents killed two people in Minneapolis. On January 7th, 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot and killed Renee Good, a mother of three and a Colorado Springs native. On January 24th, 2026, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents killed Alex Pretti, an Intensive Care Unit nurse who worked with veterans, and whose parents live in Colorado. Renee and Alex were American citizens who were exercising their First Amendment rights to protest DHS’s actions in Minneapolis when officers brutally shot and killed them. Additionally, one day after Renee Good was killed, federal agents shot and wounded two people in Portland. A week later, federal agents shot and wounded another man, again in Minneapolis. These are just a few examples of the agency’s brutality that happened in public spaces, in broad daylight. If this is what's happening out in the open, it's hard to imagine what is occurring behind closed doors. Last year, 32 people died in ICE custody. That's the most in over 20 years.
We’ve also seen children separated from their parents, and a five-year-old detained by armed agents in Minnesota. We have witnessed people pulled from their cars, the engines still running. We have read reports of people grabbed off the sidewalk and abandoned, hours later, miles away. In Colorado, ICE agents have detained individuals and reportedly left “death cards” for their families to find.
No person in America should have to wonder whether masked individuals in unmarked cars carrying guns might snatch them from the street, detain their children, or leave them bloodied on the side of the road.
This week, the Senate considered a number of bills to fund the government, including one that provides over $10 billion to DHS. As I have said repeatedly, the American people must be assured that ICE is subject to the same, common-sense practices we expect from well-functioning local law enforcement: no wearing of masks but wearing of body cameras; avoid arresting people in schools, hospitals, and churches; no stripping of children from their families; and penalties when officers violate the Constitution. In addition, DHS needs new leadership, a complete overhaul of its operations, and clear, enforceable limits on its use of force.
The bills that were considered last week don’t make a single one of these changes, and I have no confidence that the Trump Administration will participate in good faith negotiations over the next few weeks. I believe that we should have stayed in DC to fight for these reforms now. I refuse to bankroll ICE’s cruel agenda. Therefore, I voted against this package. My Republican colleagues continue to refuse to stand up to the Trump Administration's cruel immigration policies and enforcement activities.
On Thursday, I spoke on the Senate floor and called out the lawless actions of ICE at the hands of the Trump Administration. President Trump, Steven Miller, and Secretary Kristi Noem have put forward a series of lies – to the American people and to Congress – about what we are all seeing in broad daylight. I will continue to call for Kristi Noem’s resignation.
This week, I announced that I am working on legislation that will prohibit detaining children, demand accountability for federal agents who break the law, require judicial warrants to enter homes, raise hiring and training standards for immigration officials, uphold Constitutional rights to legal counsel and due process, and restore congressional access to detention facilities. My office also launched a statewide listening tour to gather feedback on immigration policy priorities. These discussions are aimed at engaging local leaders, immigration service providers, advocates, and others to share ideas about how to push back on the Trump Administration’s inhumane policies and tactics.
The recent actions by ICE, and the Trump Administration’s lies that have followed are an assault on all of us. Now is the time for my colleagues to come together and demand the return of safety and sanity to our government, rather than destruction and chaos. It’s what all Americans expect, and it’s what they deserve.
Thank you,
Michael
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