Amnesty International has called for the abolition of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), citing a documented pattern of human rights violations that spans more than two decades and has escalated under the Trump administration.
The organization's latest findings, based on large-scale immigration enforcement operations in Chicago, Minneapolis-St Paul, New Orleans and Washington DC, show abuses that go beyond isolated incidents, according to Amy Fischer, director of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA.
Pattern of abuses documented
Amnesty documented federal agents repeatedly racially profiling and arbitrarily detaining people based on their perceived race. Agents targeted workplaces and neighborhoods associated with Black and brown immigrant communities. Fischer said she 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 four cities, people reported federal officers using intimidation and unlawful force, including lethal force, against those they attempted to detain, as well as community members observing or defending their neighbors. Agents broke down doors with guns drawn, smashed vehicle windows without justification and threw people to the ground. Teargas and pepper spray were used against protesters and observers in public places, often impacting children and surrounding neighborhoods. Facial recognition technology, drones and helicopters were used to unlawfully surveil and intimidate people.
Conditions inside detention facilities
Amnesty also documented abuses inside detention facilities, including prolonged detention in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions not designed for long-term holding, with minimal food, no access to healthcare, and severely restricted access to lawyers. The organization concluded these conditions constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and, in some circumstances, may amount to torture. Unlawful incommunicado detention and possible acts of enforced disappearance were also documented, including cases where families and lawyers could not locate people in ICE custody.
The significance of the findings lies in their consistency across the four cities, involving different communities, operations and agents. The violations are characteristic of the Trump administration's mass detention and deportation machine, in which safeguards have been weakened, oversight dismantled and accountability reduced to a buzzword, the organization said.
Call for a new system
Amnesty concluded that when a pattern of human rights violations is so undeniably occurring, embedded within an institution for decades and accompanied by pervasive impunity, the only solution is to start over. The organization is therefore calling for ICE to be abolished.
ICE was created in the aftermath of 9/11 to turn immigration into a national security issue and has been problematic since, the organization noted. However, the scale and horror witnessed since January 2025, fueled by billions of new dollars and persistent impunity, has reached new levels. No amount of defunding, training or disciplinary measures will be enough, Amnesty said.
Amnesty emphasized that a future without ICE is a threshold step toward building an immigration system that complies with international human rights law, centers family unity and compassion, and does not rely on cruelty and fear. Across the four cities investigated, communities have built rapid-response networks and hotlines, walked neighbors to school and work, provided food, financial assistance, legal support and medical care, documented abuses, and supported families torn apart. Their solidarity demonstrates what communities can do when people refuse to abandon one another, the organization said.
