Law & Disorder: We Need a Plan, Not a Slogan
After Renee Good was shot three times by an ICE officer, thousands took to the streets of New York City to demand accountability from our government.
The righteous fury behind these protests was sparked by the violent killing of an unarmed mother of three, as the Trump administration slides deeper into lawlessness and cruelty.
It builds on a year in which we watched our government carry out illegal acts in the name of law and order. Trump has unleashed masked agents on our streets, sending thousands of people to overseas detention camps. His immigration crackdown has terrorized people with legitimate asylum claims, left American citizens bruised and bloodied, and made our neighbors scared to leave their homes.
These protests summoned long ago memories. After National Guard troops killed four unarmed students protesting the Vietnam War, I marched with my parents—ardent activists—up Fifth Avenue. That spring, New York became a central stage for mass protests as demonstrators demanded not only an end to the war but accountability for the American Government killing its own citizens.
Now, I am inspired by that example. My parents looked at a broken system and decided it could be fixed for the betterment of all. They did not seek to burn it all down or to undermine our democratic institutions. They sought common cause with a coalition that spanned the ideological spectrum to achieve actual change. Their work, and the work of millions of others who shared their vision, helped pull this country out of a very dark moment in Vietnam.
That’s my template for how I want to see us move forward now. We must hold our government accountable for its actions and reform ICE, plus every other agency that has been dragged into the mud by this administration, to ensure they are accountable to the people and our rule of law.
Going Beyond the Slogan
That is the lesson of history.
ICE has violated the public trust. It contains officers who should not be there and leadership that enabled abuse. That demands serious reform, not slogans.
There was similar outrage, grief, and fury after Kent State, but calls to abolish the National Guard were marginal and fleeting, not central to the movement. Our eyes remained on the prize of accountability, not abolition.
If Democrats substitute a slogan for policy, we will lose both public confidence and the chance for change. Americans will not tolerate chaos. They will not accept an unmanaged immigration system.
We must restore trust, transparency, and accountability. Congress already has tools to begin.
Federal officers should not be allowed to conceal their identities.
Use of force standards must be tightened and enforced.
Every single officer must wear a body camera.
But the problem goes beyond ICE. The Department of Justice, the FBI, and other agencies within DHS are failing to act as guardrails. They refuse to investigate Renee Good’s killing, are blocking local law enforcement, and misleading the public. This is not justice. And a broad coalition from across the ideological spectrum knows it. This coalition can achieve something if we can keep it together.
We should pursue three goals.
First, reform and retrain ICE. Remove unfit officers, prosecute wrongdoing, replace compromised leadership, focus the mission on removing violent criminals, establish independent oversight, and retrain remaining officers in de-escalation and community based policing.
Second, restore independence to the DOJ and FBI so they serve the public, not this president or any president.
Third, impose real legal consequences on any president who weaponizes law enforcement for personal or political ends.
We can choose strategy over slogans, solutions over symbolism, and change over chaos.
In Congress, I will fight to ensure we do.
