Ramirez Statement on DHS’s Expansion & Consolidation of Police State

Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, released the following statement after reports that the ICE agent involved in the murder of Johán Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old father, in Maine was recently hired from the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Police:

“The Trump administration will consolidate every resource and every authority they can under DHS to expand their power to execute their authoritarian, fascist agenda. Whether it is "rehiring" VA police, deputizing federal employees like USPS inspectors, or enacting 287(g) agreements with local enforcement, the Trump administration's paramilitary force and police state is growing. And it is murdering people on the streets.

Black and Brown communities know too well the impacts of state-inflicted violence, overpolicing, surveillance, and criminalization. After a week of three fatal encounters with ICE in our communities, we can't in good faith support ANY expansion of the police or surveillance state. We must demand that not a single one of our taxpayer dollars goes to terrorize us, track us, chase us, shoot us, or kill us.

We must reimagine safety and security, invest in effective community violence intervention and prevention programs, and remember we keep us safe. Anything short of that is unacceptable.”