The leaders of the nation’s legacy civil rights organizations issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement:
We condemn the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis as the latest in a mounting toll of deaths tied to immigration enforcement operations, including the killing of Minnesota resident Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agent earlier this month, the killing of Keith Porter by an off-duty federal agent, and other fatal encounters involving federal law enforcement across the country. Since the start of President Trump’s second term, Alex Pretti is the fifth person to be shot and killed be federal immigration officers. Federal immigration agents have fired weapons at civilians in at least 19 documented incidents as part of the administration’s enforcement crackdown. We demand accountability and an end to this cycle of sanctioned violence.
These deaths demonstrate a broader pattern of lawlessness, lack of accountability, and erosion of civil rights under the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). What we are witnessing is not isolated misconduct but the normalization of a federalized, unaccountable police force operating with impunity in American cities. This is the infrastructure of authoritarianism taking root in real time.
Let us be clear: the violence federal immigration agents are bringing into Minneapolis sits within a long American tradition of state power used to surveil, control, and punish Black and Brown communities. But the scale and brazenness of this moment mark a dangerous escalation. This is a humanitarian crisis. This is a civil rights crisis. This is a constitutional crisis.
Federal obstruction of independent investigations has made matters worse. State officials and local law enforcement agencies have faced repeated resistance and continue to be denied meaningful access to evidence and crime scenes necessary to conduct full and transparent reviews and investigations. When governors and attorneys general cannot investigate deaths in their own states, accountability has collapsed.
These egregious acts by federal agents are in defiance of the rule of law and require Congress’ immediate action. Instead of empowering ICE and DHS with billions of additional dollars in new funding, we call on every U.S. Senator to vote NO on any legislation that funds ICE or DHS surveillance, intelligence, and enforcement operations, and we formally request immediate meetings within 48 hours with both the Senate Democratic Caucus and Senate Republican Caucus regarding the unfolding situation in Minnesota and the urgent need for congressional intervention.
This Congress has abdicated its oversight role, allowing immigration enforcement to grow into the largest law enforcement force in the country, with devastating human costs. The Senate must act now. Further funding without accountability is further abdication of your responsibility.
Signed,
Marc H. Morial
President and Chief Executive Officer
National Urban League
Reverend Al Sharpton
Founder & President
National Action Network
Melanie L. Campbell
President and Chief Executive Office
National Coalition on Black Civic Participation
Convener, Black Women’s Roundtable
Derrick Johnson
President and Chief Executive Officer
NAACP
Janai Nelson
President and Director-Counsel
Legal Defense Fund
Damon Hewitt
President and Executive Director
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Shavon Arline-Bradley
President and Chief Executive Office
NCNW
Maya Wiley
President and Chief Executive Officer
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
