You cannot consider yourself an informed citizen and condone what this administration is allowing ICE to do in our communities. You cannot rationalize targeting states with immigrant numbers in the low 500,000’s such as Minnesota while ignoring states such as Texas with numbers over 6 million. This is the result of a president whose only “vision” is vengeance, cruelty, and greed. He is the only president in our history that has put the United States on the Human Rights Watch List.

The Homeland Security funding bill is attempting to maintain ICE’s annual budget of roughly $10 billion dollars including a $75 billion supplementary fund established in 2025 for immigration enforcement over four years. How many more officers, weapons, and detention centers do we need if they are only going after the criminals and the “border is closed”?

“Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota is costing taxpayers approximately $18 million per week. For what? To terrorize the communities in which citizens live? They are literally murdering Americans who dare question the sanity of having armed militia in their front yards.

This administration is openly lying to Americans. They have a story spun before bodies are even in the morgue. They are taking children, terrorizing families and people trying to get home from work. Which one of you would sit in your living rooms and gleefully watch while under-trained, masked, and armed men violate the rights of you and your neighbors?

How many of you will throw your doors wide when they knock on your door and demand to know who lives in your home? Will you celebrate when the teargas rains down next to your car or when it is sprayed point blank in your face? The people that are protesting in their streets are members of that community who are rightly questioning what the hell is happening and why.

Free speech is protected by our constitution as is our right to protest.

In order to continue support of this administration, you must not believe your eyes and bury your head in your social media algorithm and right-wing news. You are choosing to be happy as long as you have someone to look down on rather than getting angry at billionaires looking down on you, who know they have you fooled.

You cannot consider yourself an informed citizen if you condone the literal storming of the Capital, the likes of Kyle Rittenhouse, and express rage at the shooting of a podcaster and agree with what is currently happening in Minnesota.

You cannot consider yourself an informed citizen and condone the blatant assault on the right to free speech and the right to bear arms. These rights are American, not democratic or republican.

What we can do is call our senators daily and express our outrage and demand ICE funding be smashed before the Senate votes on Jan. 30th to fund the government.

No one is saying open-boarders or criminals on the streets. This is right and wrong, ethical versus unethical. This is the rights of American citizens being eroding by the day. We need to stand up and demand the government stop invading communities and demand accurate accountability.

Nick Langworthy 202-225-3161 Kirsten Gillibrand 202-224-4451 Chuck Schumer 202-224-6542

Kris Bailey is a Westfield resident.