In the aftermath of the killings of Keith Porter, Renee Nicole Good, Silverio Villegas González, and Alex Pretti, and as Congress restarts negotiations over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including ICE and Border Patrol, Amnesty International USA is calling on Congress to cut funds to ICE and Border Patrol, get masked federal agents out of our communities, and enact urgent measures to rein in the abuses and lawlessness before moving forward on any new bill.
Most recently, in response to the Senate voting down the DHS funding bill, Amy Fischer, Director of Refugee and Migrant Rights with Amnesty International USA, said:
“Amnesty International commends every Senator who voted NO on the DHS funding bill that would have allowed for unchecked abuses to continue.
“As Congress renegotiates a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, including ICE and Border Patrol, they must stop bankrolling unchecked enforcement, cruelty, violence and death by ICE and Border Patrol. Not another dime for ICE or Border Patrol.
“From recent killings by federal agents to more than 70,000 people, including hundreds of children, unnecessarily jailed in detention centers, our country is at a tipping point. This cruelty is not okay and must not be normalized—let alone funded.
“Congress has a choice: commit to human rights and the rule of law, or continue to fund a lawless agency with masked agents inciting fear and danger on our streets, yanking children from their families and terrorizing communities, arresting people without warrants, and causing needless and cruel suffering—including death—for the people in its custody. The choice is clear: stop funding cruelty.
“ICE and Border Patrol are endangering immigrants, people of color, and entire communities, while eroding human rights for everyone. This is not public safety. This is state-sponsored violence.
“Congress has an obligation to respond to this moment, heed the calls of their constituents, and refuse to agree to any DHS funding bill until there are meaningful funding cuts to ICE and Border Patrol.
“Congress must also demand a full investigation into the use of force by ICE and Border Patrol, including the recent killings in Minnesota, an end to racial profiling by federal immigration officers, and a stop to heavy-handed immigration enforcement that forces people to live in fear. Congress must also stop mission creep that expands immigration enforcement far from the border, end family detention and private detention contracts, and ensure refugees are not targeted through indiscriminate operations. Congress must end qualified immunity and ensure that federal officers are held accountable.
“Congress must meet this moment and refuse to move forward with business as usual. Now is the time: no funding for DHS without significant cuts to ICE and Border Patrol and other steps to stop the pattern of violence, impunity, and abuses by immigration enforcement agencies.”
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