Full Breakdown
Amnesty International Calls for ICE Abolition After Documenting Widespread Human Rights Violations
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Core Findings of the Report
The report details systematic human-rights abuses by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and related agencies during large-scale enforcement operations in Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New Orleans and Washington, DC. Amnesty argues the agencies’ actions constitute unlawful killings, discriminatory detentions, violent repression of peaceful protest, unlawful surveillance, inhumane detention conditions and other violations that breach international standards. Based on the findings, Amnesty calls for the immediate abolition of ICE.
Background & Context
ICE was created after the September 11, 2001 attacks, expanding federal immigration enforcement powers. Under the Trump administration, the agency intensified militarized operations that targeted migrant, asylum-seeker and refugee communities across multiple U.S. cities. Amnesty’s research places these recent operations within a longer trajectory of limited oversight and accountability since ICE’s inception.
Data & Statistics
- Interviews were conducted with roughly 150 individuals across the four cities.
- The report identifies seven incidents in which federal agents used lethal force, including three killings that may qualify as extrajudicial executions under international law.
- Specific cases cited include the deaths of two 37-year-old Americans shot by federal agents in Minneapolis and the killing of a man in Chicago in September 2025.
- Researchers recorded numerous instances of racial profiling, with agents detaining people based on race, skin colour, national origin or ethnicity far more often than for targeted enforcement.
- Detention facilities such as the federal Whipple building were described as overcrowded, unsanitary and non-compliant with human-rights standards, raising concerns that prolonged detention could amount to torture.
On-the-Ground Accounts
- Reverend David Black said agents fired pepper-spray projectiles at him while he prayed on the roof of the Broadview facility in Chicago, injuring his face, arms and torso.
- Mubashir Khalif Hussen, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen of Somali descent, described being placed in an unmarked vehicle and taken to a federal building without being allowed to show his passport; he was released hours later after presenting a photo ID.
- State Rep. Liish Kozlowski reported that an Indigenous woman in the Twin Cities was threatened at gunpoint, her window smashed and her husband’s attempt to present a Tribal ID ignored by an ICE agent.
- A woman identified only as Sofia said she was detained in civilian clothing without identification or a warrant, barred from contacting family, and held for over a month while her asylum claim remained pending.
Official Statements & Responses
Americas Director Ana Piquer described the practices as “unlawful, cruel” and harmful to children and communities. In response, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson cited criminal records of detainees in Chicago, suggesting that the agency’s actions target individuals with documented offenses.
Verbatim Quotes
- “Our report documents a chilling pattern of human rights violations across the U.S. intended to instill fear within migrant, asylum seeker and refugee communities,” — Nadia Daar, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA
- “Racially profiling and snatching people off the street, separating families and arbitrarily detaining people are not only unlawful, cruel practices, but profoundly damaging,” — Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International
- “The escalation of violence by ICE and CBP at Broadview when we were just praying and chanting was terrifying.” — Reverend David Black
What’s Next
Amnesty International’s report joins ongoing legal challenges and community advocacy efforts that seek to hold federal officials accountable and to restructure U.S. immigration enforcement in line with international human-rights obligations. The organization urges policymakers to consider the abolition of ICE as a prerequisite for any meaningful reform.