Abolish ICE and Replace It With a Professional, Trustworthy Immigration Agency.

As your constituent, I am concerned by Amnesty International’s September 24, 2026 report, “We Had Whistles, They Had Guns,” which documents repeated abuses by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies. I urge you to support legislation abolishing ICE and replacing its functions with a civil system that protects due process and human rights. REPEATED ICE ABUSES REQUIRE CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT The report says these abuses were not isolated. Amnesty examined immigration operations in Washington, DC; Chicago; New Orleans; and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Researchers interviewed 154 people, reviewed 29 videos and three photographs, and examined laws, court records, and government statements. According to the report, masked, armed agents in unmarked vehicles, often without visible identification, targeted people based on race, ethnicity, language, accent, occupation, or neighborhood. Those detained included United States citizens, people with lawful status, asylum seekers, refugees, and Indigenous people. Amnesty reports thousands of arbitrary or discriminatory arrests. The report also documents excessive force, military-style raids, intimidation, tear gas against protesters and observers, and facial-recognition surveillance. It examines lethal force against seven people and concludes that three deaths may have been unlawful killings outside the normal legal process. These are Amnesty’s findings, not court judgments, but they require congressional action. DETENTION CONDITIONS REQUIRE INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION People were held in overcrowded, unsanitary facilities without adequate medical care or access to lawyers and families. ICE sometimes failed to disclose whether people were in custody or where they were held. Amnesty says this may constitute detention without outside contact, possible disappearance when officials refused to disclose where people were held, cruel treatment, and sometimes torture. Amnesty says ICE’s failures are structural, not isolated agent misconduct, and cannot be corrected through training or individual discipline. Congress controls ICE’s governing laws and funding, so it can act. (1) ABOLISH ICE BY LAW. End ICE as an agency and transfer necessary functions to institutions governed by civil, constitutional, and human-rights safeguards. (2) END MASS DETENTION AND ABUSE. End mandatory detention, racial profiling, fast-track removal without adequate due process, and family-separation practices that obstruct counsel. (3) REQUIRE INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIONS. Have a trustworthy agency outside ICE’s control investigate deaths, shootings, excessive force, surveillance, racial discrimination, and detention abuses. Provide criminal, disciplinary, and financial remedies where warranted. (4) REDIRECT ICE FUNDING. Use savings from ICE enforcement and detention for lawful immigration processing, legal representation, healthcare, housing, education, and community services. Thank you.