Following yet another deadly shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis, Amy Fischer, Director for Refugee and Migrant Rights with Amnesty International USA said:
“Today’s fatal shooting by U.S. Border Patrol agents on the streets of Minneapolis is the latest devastating reminder that ICE and Customs and Border Patrol are not making our communities safer. Instead, they are operating with impunity, using deadly force in broad daylight, terrorizing neighborhoods, and tearing young children from their families.
“This killing is not an isolated incident. It is part of a broader pattern in which ICE, with its paramilitary-style operations, has been unleashed to carry out violent and abusive enforcement and detention practices with little oversight or accountability. From deadly street operations to the torture, neglect and other abuses documented in immigrant detention facilities, ICE has repeatedly violated human rights while facing virtually no consequences. In fact, the House voted Thursday to increase its funding by billions of dollars.
“How many more people must die before U.S. leaders act? At a moment when lives are being taken and communities are demanding answers, Congress must stop looking away. The U.S. Senate faces an urgent choice in the coming days: continue pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into a lawless agency that endangers lives with impunity or take meaningful action to rein in ICE and stop funding its abuses.
“Amnesty International calls on Congress to reject any additional funding for ICE and to immediately take steps to hold ICE accountable for the deaths and other human rights violations it has caused, and to end these deadly enforcement practices. Not one more life should be lost. Not one more dime should be spent enabling this horror.”