Advocacy Letter: Stop ICE’s deadly spree
October 4, 2026
The Honorable Mark Warner
The Honorable Tim Kaine
The Honorable Eugene Vindman
Dear Senators Warner and Kaine and Representative Vindman,
Yet another person has been shot by ICE. Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez is a father who was working as a food delivery driver to support his son with a disability when he was shot by agents in the street. In the days since, he’s been denied appropriate medical care and is now partially paralyzed, and he continues to be detained with the bullet ICE shot at him still in his body.
This follows the killings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti earlier this year. When will enough be enough? Congress must act immediately to get these reckless, violent agents out of our streets.
This violence is the heartbreaking but foreseeable outcome of an out-of-control agency getting a nearly unlimited budget from Congress without any guardrails or reforms – especially in combination with arbitrary and unprecedented arrest quotas. Rather than de-escalate after the killings in Minnesota this January, ICE has received more funding, expanded its operations, and sent more reckless agents into our streets. The killings this summer should have been yet another opportunity for Congress to de-arm, de-fund, and de-escalate the violent crusade against immigrants. Yet once again, ICE has been allowed to continue unchecked and another family is left to suffer.
From Maine to Texas, ICE endangers our communities and must be stopped before anyone else is hurt or killed. I urge you to commit to stripping ICE of its unprecedented billions of dollars in funding.
I urge you to pressure Secretary Mullin to draw down ICE agents from their nationwide arrest surge, end the immigration arrest quotas, and commit to real reforms.
Sincerely,
James Landrith
Woodbridge, VA
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Sent via ACLU.
Dear Mr. Landrith,
Thank you for contacting me regarding recent actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protections (CBP). I appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns.
On January 7, 2026, Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. She was a young mother of three and her death was both horrifying and preventable. Weeks later, on January 25, Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a veterans’ hospital who dedicated his life to caring for those who served our country, was shot and killed by ICE and CBP officers. Alex Pretti was exercising his constitutional rights at the time, and the administration’s false and misleading statements about his death have only worsened an already volatile situation.
This is not who we are as a nation, and it should never be accepted as normal. We should be a nation that protects its people, respects their rights, and holds those in power accountable. That’s why I am calling on President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem to end the violent federal takeover of American cities before more people are hurt. As your Representative, I am also calling for an immediate, independent investigation by local law enforcement to ensure full transparency and accountability. No one, regardless of their role or authority, is above the law, and the American people deserve answers and accountability, that is why I believe Secretary Noem must be impeached and removed from office.
To be clear, the Trump Administration’s use of ICE goes far beyond what is necessary to keep our communities safe. We can secure our borders and arrest violent criminals while still treating people with dignity and respect, but that is not what we are seeing from the Trump administration.
This approach has real consequences for communities like ours, which is why I have also spoken out against the proposed ICE detention facility in our district in Stafford County, Virginia. After conversations with our community, elected officials, law enforcement, and community leaders, it is clear that this facility does not reflect the values or desires of our community. I strongly oppose it. A facility like this would be cruel and beyond the scope of keeping our communities safe. That is also why I voted against the Fiscal Year 2026 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, which would have enabled and expanded these facilities.
Thank you again for reaching out. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any additional questions or concerns. I look forward to hearing from you in the future.
Sincerely,
Congressman Eugene Vindman
Member of Congress
October 21, 2026
Dear Mr. Landrith,
Thank you for contacting me about President Trump’s misuse of federal immigration agents and the aggressive enforcement actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Like most Americans, I am outraged by fatal shootings at the hands of ICE officers, the wrongful detention of U.S. citizens and individuals lawfully present in this country, as well as the violations of individuals’ civil rights during interactions with immigration officers.
Taken together, these actions point to a pattern of excessive force by the Trump administration and a dangerous disregard for individual rights. I believe that all Virginians, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, deserve to be treated with respect and must be properly afforded their rights as expressed in the U.S. Constitution.
For that reason, I do not support providing tens of billions of additional dollars to immigration agencies without meaningful reforms, stronger oversight, and clear accountability measures.
That is why on June 5, 2026, I voted against H.R. 7147, the 2026 Homeland Security and Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, which gave $70 billion to immigration agencies that are already sitting on $100 billion in unspent funds provided through last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Unfortunately, Democratic efforts to redirect the $70 billion to reduce housing and health care costs were blocked by the Republican majority, as were efforts to include basic immigration reforms.
Providing additional funding to our immigration agencies does nothing to bring down costs for everyday American families, nothing to reform the Administration’s out-of-control immigration agenda that has led to the harassment and murder of American citizens, nothing to keep the President from funneling money to political cronies or vanity projects, and nothing to end an unpopular and illegal war that is costing Americans tens of billions at the gas pump.
We must put real guardrails on ICE, including requiring agents to unmask, wear body cameras, and comply with warrant requirements. Any law enforcement officers performing immigration functions must abide by the U.S. Constitution and federal law. When ICE agents violate or create the appearance of violating the rights of their fellow citizens, it does harm to all Virginians and all Americans.
That is why I was proud to introduce the Immigration Enforcement Identification Safety (IEIS) Act of 2025. The bill would prohibit law enforcement officers from obscuring their faces and require that they clearly display their agency, their name, and a unique identifier while conducting immigration enforcement functions, with some commonsense exceptions for select tactical missions and officer health and safety.
Please know that I am grateful for your interest in this important issue. We cannot allow this administration to continue this pattern of lawless immigration enforcement. We need ICE reform now, and I urge all Virginians to stand up and speak out in defense of our Constitution and the rule of law.
Sincerely,
MARK R. WARNER
United States Senator