It’s time to abolish ICE | Amy Fischer

Amnesty International is calling for an end to the agency, whose record of violating human rights dates back decades That’s the conclusion we at Amnesty International have reached after documenting the chilling pattern of human rights violations across the US during immigration enforcement operations. ICE’s record of violating human rights has been documented for more than two decades, but our latest findings show that the abuses go well beyond a series of incidents. Instead, under the Trump administration, there is a clear pattern that has reached a new and dangerous scale. In large-scale immigration enforcement operations in Chicago, Minneapolis-St Paul, New Orleans and Washington DC, we documented federal agents repeatedly racially profiling and arbitrarily detaining people based on their perceived race.

Agents also targeted workplaces and neighborhoods that they associated with Black and brown immigrant communities. I spoke with dozens of people – including Indigenous people, Black and brown US citizens, and people with legal immigration status who were also racially profiled, stopped and arbitrarily detained. In all of the cities, people told me about federal officers using intimidation and unlawful force, including lethal force, against people they were attempting to detain, as well as community members observing or defending their neighbors. Agents broke down doors with guns drawn, smashed