Congress Clawing Back ICE Funding Would Just Be a Start

This Congress must rise to the moment as others have, to enact laws that both reach back to our founding ideals and reach forward to inspire generations to come. They must not fail.

Edwin Eisendrath hosts “It’s the Democracy, Stupid” on Lincoln Square and on WCPT820 AM/ Heartland Signal. He’s the former CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times, a former Chicago Alderman, and a HUD Regional Administrator. You can follow him on BlueSky at eisendrath.net and subscribe to his Substack.

Illustration by Riley Levine

Donald Trump is enormously dangerous. And we would be fools to look at a small rhetorical retreat from the horrors of his armed occupation in Minneapolis as a victory that will last.

I’m glad Greg Bovino is gone. He is an appalling public servant, responsible for a crime spree across several states. On his watch, Americans have been beaten, gassed, detained, and murdered. But replacing him with Tom Homan is like replacing Bonnie with Clyde.

Homan was caught on video taking a $50,000 bribe and is only out of prison because the Trump administration refused to prosecute the case. His personal freedom is only guaranteed by his loyalty to the boss. Make no mistake: He may not strut around in a Nazi greatcoat, but he’s heading to Minnesota to salvage Trump’s policy of massive coercion.

We are in a new era of America’s long fight for civil rights. Once that fight was for the dignity of workers. Once it was for the equality of Black Americans. Once it was for the suffrage of American women. Today, finally, we are in a civil rights battle for us all. Will Americans live free of government coercion or not? Will we allow a dictatorial President to extort corporation, universities, law firms, and media companies? Will we allow his troops to storm our streets and tell us we must not care for our neighbors?

The American people have answered those questions decisively. Despite being told after Renee Good’s murder that we should learn our lesson and stay home, we showed up in even greater numbers. Unbowed, Americans proved willing to die for our freedom. Alex Pretti paid that terrible price.

Now the question arises: Will Congress meet the moment?

Back in the mid-1960s, after those bombings in Mississippi, after the bomb that killed those four little girls in Birmingham Church, after all that hateful violence woke up America, our country finally agreed that change was long overdue. Congress back then did not settle for a deal that said everything could remain the same so long as the bombing of Churches stopped. Instead, they agreed that the time had come to pass a Civil Rights Act and a Voting Rights Act, and, finally, to live up to the promise of America. Anything less would have been an appalling betrayal.

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On Thursday, Trump and Senate Democrats reached a deal that avoids a government shutdown, per Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office. That agreement funds all departments except for the Department of Homeland Security, which reportedly will operate on a two-week stopgap bill.

But our Congress today must not settle for the status quo, amended only so that ICE agents don’t murder Americans on our streets. That, too, would be a betrayal. Americans are demanding that Congress rescind funding meant to build a network of domestic concentration camps and to stop the creation of an expansive federal domestic police force. We are demanding this Congress rise to the moment as others have, to enact laws that both reach back to our founding ideals and reach forward to inspire generations to come. They must not fail to do it.

In this fraught moment, Donald Trump does what he always does. He buys time. He changes the subject. He went to war in Venezuela so we would forget Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing has changed in Venezuela. The regime remains in place. Despite his claims, American oil companies have not invested billions to stabilize that country and enrich ours. Instead, our military continues to bomb small boats off that countries coast. Trump spent billions, risked the lies of our soldiers, and nothing changed. Except… Donald Trump bought time to violate the Epstein disclosure law he himself signed. Now, with the public rejection of his coercive efforts in Minnesota, he is talking about regime change in Iran.

American eyes are on the prize. Back in 2021, I wrote that it will be ordinary Americans that inspire the world, and so it is. Now Congress must follow.

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