What we can do about recent news events...

January 10, 2026

The stuff below was snagged from a friend’s facebook post. TBH I have not been overtly making outreach to my representatives, up til now, but I believe it’s long past time.

If you have Republican representatives and want to reach out to them about ICE, I’ve crafted something that I will use with my Montana representatives. Mind you, I try to “bond” over shared values to get to a shared understanding. How I really feel is not entirely reflected in this, but I feel like we have more power if we can pin it to shared values.

I’m a constituent in Montana and I want to be clear that I support strong border security and the consistent enforcement of our laws. A nation must have borders to be secure. But I’m deeply concerned by recent footage of ICE agents acting with extreme, unchecked aggression against U.S. citizens and peaceful bystanders. When federal agents mask their faces, refuse to identify themselves, and use physical force against people who are not resisting, they are not enforcing the law, they are operating extrajudicially.

I believe in limited government. Giving federal agents the power to tackle and pepper-spray civilians without due process is an expansion of federal power that should worry every Montanan. We cannot have ‘shadow’ law enforcement operating in our streets without transparency or judicial oversight. It undermines public trust in the very laws they are supposed to uphold.

I am asking (inserg rep’s name here) to support Congressional Oversight of these federal surges. Will you demand that ICE agents be required to wear visible identification at all times and adhere to standard de-escalation protocols when interacting with the public? We need border security, but we cannot sacrifice the Fourth Amendment and the Rule of Law to get it.

If you have a GOP rep, you can also use chatGPT to get additional info for speaking to your reps’ particulars.

For example, Ryan Zinke, my House rep, was a former Navy Seal and understands chain of command. I can talk about this as lack of discipline or protocol to him.

Daines, one of my Senators, often focuses on government overreach and weaponization of federal agencies. I can use this to get alignment.

Sheehy, my other Senator, talks a lot about constitutional rights and I can also use this. My concern is not limited to Good’s shooting. I am seeing brown shirt tactics used on both citizens and non-citizens and very little is getting reported on tv news or on any front page of mainstream news on the web.

My chatgpt research on what crowd control, etc, should look like: The Dispersal Order: Before any force is used to clear a crowd, a clear, audible order must be given. This order should state that the assembly is unlawful, give a specific direction for egress (where to go), and provide a reasonable amount of time for people to comply.

Passive Resistance vs. Active Aggression: Most department policies (and several state laws, like California’s AB 48) prohibit the use of “less-lethal” weapons like pepper spray or rubber bullets against individuals who are merely non-compliant or “passively resisting” (such as sitting down or refusing to move).

Proportionality: Force is supposed to be used only when “objectively reasonable” to defend against a threat. Using pepper spray on a stationary, non-threatening person is generally considered a violation of standard use-of-force policies and constitutional rights.

If you need help articulating a stance for your particular representative, I will help you. Just reach out. We all need to be taking action right now.

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