RismadarVoice Reporters
September 25, 2026
Amnesty International has called for the abolition of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accusing the agency and other federal immigration authorities of widespread human rights violations during enforcement operations under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The rights organisation made the call in a report released on Thursday following an investigation into large-scale immigration operations in Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New Orleans and Washington, DC.
Amnesty said the investigation drew on more than 150 testimonies collected between March and June and documented allegations including racial discrimination, arbitrary arrests and detention, harassment, intimidation and unlawful use of force.
The organisation also raised concerns about the treatment of peaceful protesters, surveillance practices and conditions in immigration detention facilities.
Nadia Daar, Director of Amnesty International USA, said the deployment of armed and masked federal agents in communities had raised concerns about public safety and accountability.
“Masked and armed federal agents attacking people in the streets with impunity doesn’t make our communities safer; it puts everyone in danger,” Daar said.
Amnesty argued that the incidents documented in its investigation reflected broader institutional problems rather than isolated cases of alleged misconduct.
“ICE is fundamentally broken and cannot be fixed,” Daar said, calling for the agency to be dismantled and replaced with an immigration system consistent with international human rights standards.
The report also cited several recent incidents involving federal immigration agents, including the shooting of Venezuelan migrant Wilber Rafael Garces Perez in Austin, Texas.
Accounts of that incident remain disputed, with authorities and Perez giving differing versions of what occurred.
Amnesty also referred to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, who were shot by federal agents in Minneapolis in January, and called for cases involving lethal force to be independently investigated.
The organisation further expressed concern about the use of facial-recognition technology, surveillance of protesters and community members, and conditions in immigration detention facilities.
Amnesty accused the Trump administration of operating a mass detention and deportation system affecting migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
Federal officials have defended the administration’s immigration enforcement operations as necessary to enforce US immigration laws amid criticism from rights organisations and other groups.
Amnesty maintained that institutional changes were required and urged the US Congress to abolish ICE rather than limit its response to reforms of the existing agency.
