Over the last year and a half, we have all witnessed how the Trump administration has implemented a mass detention and deportation system fueled by racist, xenophobic and false narratives and white supremacist theories, subjecting migrants, asylum seekers and refugees to numerous human rights violations.
That’s why Amnesty International calls on you to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The world has witnessed the abuses of ICE, and it is time to urgently put an end to those abuses.
Amnesty International’s new report, “We had whistles, they had guns”: Human Rights Violations in U.S. Immigration Enforcement Operations and the Case to Abolish ICE, documents extensive violations across four cities under siege—Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New Orleans and Washington, DC—by ICE, Border Patrol, and other federal agents.
These include:
- Racial discrimination, arbitrary arrests and detention
- Harassment, intimidation, degrading treatment, and unlawful use of force by federal agents
- Use of lethal force and unlawful killings by federal agents, which should be investigated as extrajudicial executions
- Repression of peaceful protests and use of less lethal weapons, including tear gas and pepper spray, sometimes near children
- Unlawful surveillance and facial recognition technology
- Enforcement near schools, medical facilities, houses of worship, and other sensitive locations
- Inhumane detention conditions and denial of due process, which should be investigated as torture
- Unlawful incommunicado detention and possible acts of enforced disappearance
These violations are not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern of how immigration enforcement is conducted. ICE has become more emboldened, more cruel, more abusive, and more unaccountable than ever before. ICE agents were shielded from accountability and even openly supported by the Trump administration in their actions.
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS: IT’S TIME TO ABOLISH ICE.
No amount of defunding, training, or disciplinary measures will be enough. The extent and scale of the abuses and failures we documented lead to only one possible road to justice: ICE must be abolished.
One of the best ways to do that is for Congress to immediately take steps to defund ICE and rescind its current funding to be re-invested into programs that help all of our communities thrive.
A new bill called the Melt ICE Act is a crucial first step to do exactly that. We are specifically calling on members of the House of Representatives to cosponsor the Melt ICE Act (H.R.7190), which would remove ICE’s authority to detain immigrants, end all existing immigration detention contracts within two years of enactment, and prevent the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from entering into any new contracts with any entity for facilities to detain or surveil immigrants. H.R.7190 would also redirect billions of taxpayer dollars towards community-based services that support working families.
Congress: YOU have the power and responsibility to stop these abuses.
The United States government must uphold the human rights and dignity of all people, regardless of their immigration status. What you do now will be remembered by future generations—take a stand today because you have the power to do so. Our communities’ lives and rights depend on it.
Read our new report, “We Had Whistles, They Had Guns”: Human Rights Violations in U.S. Immigration Enforcement Operations and the Case to Abolish ICE, documenting why we must abolish ICE.