NCJC joins coalition urging Congress to restrict funding and authority of ICE and U.S. Border Patrol

(Raleigh, NC – January 9, 2025) The North Carolina Justice Center joined over 400 nationwide civil and human rights organizations in signing on to a National Immigration Law Center-led coalition letter Jan. 9 that urges Congress to end the escalating violence inflicted on communities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol by withholding authorization for future funding for these agencies, restricting their operations, and ending deployment of border patrol to cities across the U.S.

The text of the coalition letter is below and found online here with the list of signers.

Dear Members of Congress,

Masked federal agents are unleashing violence and chaos in our cities and neighborhoods. Agents shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, a mother, wife and widow of a military veteran, on January 7 in Minneapolis, MN. Just a day later, agents shot two people in Portland, OR.

We, the undersigned civil rights and human rights organizations, call on you to say enough is enough. Congress must rein in the violence and lawlessness endangering our communities. Specifically, we ask that you refuse to increase funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, and that you demand that any appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security restrains and requires accountability from immigration enforcement agencies.

Last year, Congress gave the Department of Homeland Security a windfall of $170 billion dollars to supersize its deportation force and detention network. Congressional funding enabled DHS to become what it is today: a dangerous agency operating with impunity. Masked federal agents, equipped for war, are dragging people from their cars, zip-tying children, firing tear gas at high schoolers, and pointing guns at peaceful observers and protestors. They are setting up checkpoints in our cities and detaining people based on the color of their skin, their language or accent, or where they happen to be. By design, these actions terrorize and wreak havoc.

They tear at the seams of our families, our communities, and our safety. They poison our democracy and our way of life. This is not the America we deserve, nor the one our laws or Constitution allow.

Congress should use its Article I power to limit these out-of-control agencies and require that they serve the public, not terrorize communities with impunity. Accordingly, we call on you to, at a minimum:

1. Refuse to vote for any FY2026 appropriations bill that includes increased funding for ICE or Border Patrol, including funds for the existing system that allowed 32 people to die in custody in 2025, the deadliest year ever, while thousands of others suffer physical and sexual abuse, medical neglect, and degrading conditions.

2. Refuse to vote for any appropriations bill for DHS beyond January 30 unless it:

• Strengthens restrictions on ICE and Border Patrol’s ability to conduct dragnet arrest operations and target people based on their race, language or accent, place of employment, or location at the time of the apprehension;
• Ends border patrol deployment to our cities and rejects its ever-expanding mandate in immigration enforcement; and
• Limits DHS’s reprogramming and transfer authority, including specifically preventing reprogramming and transferring funds for detention.

These are the bare minimum reforms needed to start protecting our communities from the escalating and violent operations. We urge you to act decisively and show DHS and the communities you serve that the cruelty and lawlessness we have seen is unacceptable, and it ends now.

Click here to read the NILC-led letter and view the more than 400 organizations that signed on.