Still Happening:
ICE Abuse and Overreach
Every day, the Trump administration is using its already unprecedented DHS funding to terrorize communities, tear-gas schools, and abduct and kill our neighbors. The harm being inflicted hasn't stopped. Below is a snapshot of how ICE and CBP continue to hurt our communities with the billions CBP and ICE have already provided, how deeply unpopular these actions are with the public, and how voters are demanding Congress not send additional funding to the agency.
DHS has already received $191 billion in reconciliation funding, including $75 billion for ICE, $64 billion for CBP and $22 billion in a slush fund to be used for immigration enforcement.
Here is a sampling of big stories from the last few days that continue to show the Trump Administration is pushing ahead on its wrong and deeply unpopular immigration actions:
Egyptian Family Held Nine Months at Dilley Details Moldy Food, Medical Neglect, and Children's Nightmares
In 59 pages of letters and drawings submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, five children—ages 5 to 18—describe worm-infested food, untreated illness, and a 5-year-old twin who screams through the night.
The Texas Tribune reports that Hayam El Gamal and her five children—believed to be the longest-held family at the Dilley, Texas facility during Trump's second term—have spent more than nine months in detention, where their 16-year-old describes food with mold and worms and a sibling was left writhing on the floor with appendicitis before staff gave only Tylenol. El Gamal's 5-year-old son, who was potty trained, has begun wetting himself, and his twin sister wakes screaming multiple times a night, saying she is chased by something but cannot escape. CoreCivic, which operates the facility, disputed the allegations. The family's 59-page declaration—including hand-written letters and children's drawings—was submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Immigration Detention on Track for Deadliest Fiscal Year Since 2004
Twenty-three people have died in ICE custody since October—already surpassing all of last fiscal year—as the detained population swells to nearly 70,000 and oversight offices are gutted.
NPR reports that the current fiscal year is on pace to be the deadliest for immigration detainees in more than two decades, with 23 deaths since October—more than in the entire prior fiscal year. The surge in fatalities comes as ICE holds nearly 70,000 people, the highest number in years, while the civil rights and oversight offices tasked with monitoring conditions have been hollowed out by hundreds of staff cuts. Medical professionals who worked inside detention centers told NPR they witnessed chaotic screenings and life-threatening delays in getting medicine and care to detainees.
Researcher Warns of Risks as 287(g) Agreements Explode Across Missouri and the Nation
More than 60 agreements that deputize local police as immigration agents have been signed across Missouri alone, with the most aggressive "task force" model now dominant nationwide.
St. Louis Public Radio reports that Syracuse University researcher Austin Kocher, who has interviewed senior law enforcement officers across the South about these partnerships, warns that the "task force" model of 287(g) agreements—now the most common type—allows local police, deputies, and state highway patrol officers to question people about immigration status in the field. More than 60 individual agreements have been signed across Missouri, reflecting an explosion of these partnerships that effectively turn local officers into immigration agents with minimal federal oversight or training standards.
Confusion Reigns Among Colorado ICE Officers as Supervisors Give Conflicting Orders on Court-Ordered Limits
At an evidentiary hearing, the government acknowledged its own arrest reports are not fully in compliance with a federal judge's order banning warrantless ICE arrests in Colorado.
Colorado Public Radio reports that an evidentiary hearing before a federal judge revealed deep dysfunction within ICE's Colorado operations, with supervisors giving agents conflicting instructions on how to comply with a court order banning warrantless arrests. An assistant U.S. attorney acknowledged that the arrest reports turned over to the ACLU are not fully in compliance with the court's order, while the government argued that field warrants issued after someone is already in custody should not count as "warrantless arrests"—a distinction ACLU attorneys called meaningless. The judge had ordered the hearing to force the government to prove it is training agents and doing all it can to comply.
Milwaukee Attorney Says Client Detained at Routine ICE Check-In as "Deportation Trap" Pattern Grows
Immigrants who show up for mandatory ICE appointments—the same check-ins they were told would keep them in compliance—are being detained on the spot, their attorneys say.
TMJ4 reports that a Milwaukee immigration attorney says a client was detained during what was supposed to be a routine ICE check-in at the agency's downtown office—part of a growing pattern that attorneys across the country have called a "deportation trap." ICE agents arrested roughly 75 immigrants at or near its Milwaukee office in recent months, most of whom had no criminal history. The practice has made immigrants terrified to attend the very appointments that the government requires them to keep, leaving them in an impossible bind: skip the check-in and risk a warrant, or show up and risk detention.
ICE Is Keeping Tabs on American Citizens Who Oppose the Agency
Facial recognition, administrative subpoenas to tech companies, and agents who call protesters by name—a sweeping surveillance apparatus has turned inward on U.S. citizens.
NPR reports that ICE has been using a range of surveillance tools—including the facial recognition app Mobile Fortify and a Clearview AI contract that taps billions of online images—to monitor not just immigrants but American citizens who publicly oppose the agency. Agents have photographed protesters' faces and license plates, called them by name, and followed them to their homes. The administration has also issued administrative subpoenas to tech companies like Google and Meta to unmask anonymous social media accounts critical of ICE—a tool typically reserved for serious criminal investigations that legal experts say violates free speech protections. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons denied the existence of any protester database at a recent congressional hearing.
