Trump and his ICE Gestapo are trampling on our Constitution and building a fascist police state in America. ICE also intimidates by detaining and charging “interfering” public figures, and it illegally continues denying Congresspeople access to ICE facilities to check on detained migrants, part of their oversight function.

Our MoCs must stop fascism in its tracks by exposing ICE’s atrocities and cutting off ICE funding. The billions for militarized enforcement in the MAGA Murder Budget Bill now before the Senate, and later returning to the House, must be removed and the administration notified accountabiliy’s coming when Democrats retake the House.

Trump always wanted to use the military to attack his opponents and quash peaceful protests. In Los Angeles this past weekend he made it happen—manufacturing a supposed “crisis” by sending heavily armed, masked ICE agents using armored trucks, rifles, and stun grenades to raid workplaces and day labor hangouts where immigrants congregated and using the resulting peaceful protests as an excuse to illegally send in both the National Guard and the Marines to further brutalize Los Angelenos. .This is a test run for Trump’s broader agenda, relying on fear, force, and fascistic tactics to silence dissent and dehumanize vulnerable communities.

Like Governor Newsom, our MoCs must hold the Trump administration accountable for intentionally creating chaos and breaking the law to stoke violence—dismantling his lies in real time; highlighting that ICE is rounding up and summarily deporting not criminals but average, law-abiding immigrants; and drawing attention to Trump’s illegal use of the National Guard and Marines to squash peaceful protests against his unpopular ICE raids. 

Additionally, they must (1) claw back the reconciliation bill’s funding for ICE and the Pentagon being used to terrorize immigrants and citizens alike; (2) demand hearings on Trump’s illegal militarization; (3) force votes on legislation preventing the President from using the military and National Guard to curtail our First Amendment freedoms;  and, most  importantly, (4) regularly inspect local ICE facilities to draw attention to their unconstitutional treatment of immigrants and citizens.

On June 3, Trump formally asked Congress to take back the entire $1.1 billion already awarded to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through September 2027—an essential source of funding for more than 1,500 local public television and radio stations around the country.  Eliminating CPB funding isn’t about budget cuts. It’s about silencing the free press, obscuring the truth, and clearing the path for unchecked propaganda—a classic authoritarian move. 

Beginning today, my Members of Congress must speak out forcefully against this rescission, paint proponents as First Amendment deniers, educating colleagues and voters how American democracy requires a free and independent press, and promise to hold proponents responsible in 2026 for shutting  down the CPB and creating news deserts in their communities. 

On June 3, Trump formally asked Congress to take back the entire $1.1 billion already awarded to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through September 2027.  

Eliminating CPB funding isn’t about budget cuts. It’s about silencing the free press, obscuring the truth, and clearing the path for unchecked propaganda—a classic authoritarian move. 

Beginning today, my Members of Congress must speak out forcefully against this rescission, paint proponents as First Amendment deniers, educating colleagues and voters how American democracy requires a free and independent press, and promise to hold proponents responsible in 2026 for shutting  down the CPB and creating news deserts in their communities. 

The Senate may begin voting on the controversial GENIUS ACT (S.394), crafted by tech oligarchs seeking to tie cryptocurrency to the dollar and create a regulatory framework, as early as tomorrow morning (May 9). It would require that stablecoins hold reserves of liquid, safe assets like Treasury bills, issuers follow anti-money-laundering and terrorism finance rules and coin holders get priority to recoup their money in a bankruptcy.

Thank you for cosponsoring the End Crypto Corruption Act, which, if included in S.394, would stop Trump’s corrupt behavior somewhat. Nevertheless, because S.394 does not provide the necessary real guardrails against market manipulation, untraceable bribes, money laundering, and endless cryptocurrency scams, I urge you to vote against cloture and convince your colleagues to do likewise.

Trump is following Hitler’s playbook, using the Gestapo-like ICE as his personal secret police to round up, detain, and exterminate through rendition brown and black communities—just as their Nazi equivalents did to Jews and gypsies. Daily we witness ICE’s cruel, violent, illegal acts—not just terrorizing communities, tearing families apart, and disappearing innocent people, but also targeting political dissidents and public officials rather than the hardened criminals Trump promised to deport. 

Our MoCs, if serious about stopping fascism, must do everything they can to prevent ICE’s further expansion and empowerment, while warning about accountability when they retake the House in 2026.

The Trump-Musk “DOGE” mass firings and SSA office closures have created jammed phone lines, long wait times, and a website on the verge of collapse, but confirmation tomorrow of Frank Bisignano, a self-proclaimed “DOGE person” and ultra-rich former Wall Street executive, as Social Security Administrator will make everything worse.

Senators Wyden and Merkley, I implore you to impress on your Democratic colleagues the need for a united front–on this and all subsequent nominations–to demonstrate the Democratic Party is truly working for the American people. Right now that message is muddled. If Trump is destroying our institutions and democracy, how could all Democrats have voted to confirm Marco Rubio? Or 16 Democrats to confirm election-denier David Perdue–including Cory Booker who spoke eloquently against the administration for 25 hours just days earlier? 

To express outrage at the Trump administration’s cruel, unconstitutional behavior, you and your colleagues must also use all available Senate procedures to stall every nominee and regularly find creative ways to keep its excesses front and center, like today’s Hands Off Social Security Rally.