We, the employees of the NLRB, are calling on members of Congress to reject the Senate’s proposed funding deal unless it includes meaningful reforms for ICE and CBP’s operations.
Our Union has never endorsed a government shutdown before. But we believe we have no other choice.
Jan 30, 2026 16:13Under the current tactics of ICE and CBP, none of us are safe. Fundamental rights to life, liberty, and livelihood are under attack. Our Union believes it has a moral imperative to take a stand against the havoc that DHS is purposefully wreaking on our members’ communities.
Our members in Minneapolis have been thrust into the turmoil of ICE and CBP’s operations and have seen their work impacted by that presence in the city over the last several weeks. Our jobs are made far more difficult by this chaos; it shatters the public’s trust in government.
Our membership is also devastated by the murder of Alex Pretti, a fellow federal employee and union member as a VA nurse. We see ourselves in his dedication to civil service and mourn the tragedy of his execution. We cannot protect federal workers without rejecting this violence.
We do not make this demand lightly. After years of underfunding that has depleted the NLRB’s staff, we are working through massive case backlogs. The last shutdown imposed significant hardship on our members and another would do the same. Agency morale has never been lower.
But the time for action by Congress was yesterday. We are not willing to wait multiple weeks and news cycles while this Administration tries to run out the clock on public outrage. There will never be a better opportunity to enact serious reforms to ICE and CBP than there is now.
We see our years-long fight to fairly fund the NLRB and provide the best services to the public as intertwined with the struggle to protect civil liberties in Minneapolis and elsewhere. It is this feeling of solidarity that compels us to call on Congress to reform ICE and CBP.
