Washington, DC — We’ve been highlighting how this administration’s mass deportation crusade is harming all of us, serving as the ‘tip of the spear’ for a broader assault on the rights and civil liberties of all Americans. In particular, the culture of impunity, chaos, and cruelty that is embodied by ICE and on display in Minneapolis and beyond is a sign of an administration and agency that’s off the rails and in desperate need of accountability.
As the Senate weighs delivering more funding for ICE and this administration’s mass deportation crusade, the incidents and examples below capture the cruelty and chaos run amok and illustrate why Members of Congress calling for accountability are correct.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“The Administration’s ICE machine sows violence and destruction wherever it goes. ICE is a runaway agency, an increasingly private army of armed and masked agents who are untrained, unchecked and undermining our Constitution every day. The cruelty, chaos and culture of impunity on display is abhorrent. Until accountability is in place, ICE should not receive another penny from Congress.”
See below recent stories highlighting the violence, chaos, and destruction that ICE continues to spread, and proves why they do not deserve any more funding:
- ICE thinks it’s above the law – whistleblower reveals ICE memo claiming powers to enter homes without a warrant: “Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches”
- 5-Year old Liam Conejo Ramos detained in Minnesota – look at the heartbreaking image: “Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, whom the Department of Homeland Security identified as Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias in an emailed statement, were detained in their driveway Tuesday afternoon, just as they were returning from the child’s preschool, according to a news release from Columbia Heights Public Schools … After detaining the father, ICE officers then asked Liam to knock on the door to see if any other people were inside the home, “using a 5-year-old as bait,” according to the school district.”
- JD Vance speech in Minneapolis yesterday – filled with lies to inflame and scapegoat, rather than unify and bridge divides: As the AP chronicled, “Vice President JD Vance on Thursday blamed “far-left people” and state and local law enforcement officials for the chaos that has unfolded during the White House’s aggressive deportation campaign.” Vance then tried to downplay the significance of the AP scoop about the ICE memo claiming powers for warrantless home invasions (see Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council debunking Vance on the point here).
- Detention death in Texas ruled a homicide – and administration looking to deport witnesses: “The recent death of a detainee at an immigrant detention camp in Texas has been officially deemed a homicide, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday by the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner…A fellow detainee, Santos Jesus Flores, said in a phone interview with The Post last week that he saw guards choking Lunas Campos and heard Lunas Campos repeatedly saying, “No puedo respirar” — Spanish for “I can’t breathe.” Medical staff tried to resuscitate him for an hour, after which they took his body away, Flores said… “He said, ‘I cannot breathe, I cannot breathe.’ After that, we don’t hear his voice anymore, and that’s it,” Flores said. The Trump administration has taken steps to deport Flores and one other detainee who provided an eyewitness account, both of whom have criminal convictions.”
- In Maine, ICE arrested local law enforcement recruit – and local sheriff is pushing back: Cumberland County, Maine Sheriff Kevin Joyce called out ICE for how it detained a corrections recruit, with the sheriff calling “the number of agents on the scene a ‘show of force,’” and saying ‘he was disturbed that the ICE agents left the recruit’s vehicle unsecured at the scene… he says the video of his recruit’s arrest on Wednesday night was hard to watch.”
