Halt the ICE Terror Machine

QUICK OVERVIEW

Congress is negotiating a deal to fund Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that is killing people in the streets, taking our children, and trampling our rights. A temporary stopgap measure will likely fund DHS through February 13th while negotiations continue. We must keep up the pressure on Congress to protect our communities.

• The Trump regime is terrorizing our communities with brutal immigration enforcement campaigns designed to test the limits of executive power and the nation’s willingness to stand up against Trump’s power grab. Masked federal agents are teargassing babies and pastors, kidnapping our neighbors and shipping them off to foreign torture prisons, and killing innocent people. This pattern of unchecked violence and abuse by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Border Patrol, and other federal law enforcement agencies must end.
• Congress has the responsibility to rein in this lawlessness and stop funneling our taxpayer dollars toward these attacks on our families and our liberties. A continuing resolution (CR) will likely fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes both ICE and Border Patrol, through February 13 while Congress negotiates a new funding bill.
• All Members of Congress must cut off ICE and Border Patrol’s slush funds and at a minimum demand major reforms of these reckless agencies’ operations. Until we can take DHS down to the studs and end the mass deportation machine and brutal secret police once and for all, Congress must take action to stop Trump’s violence escalating across the country. Every day DHS continues to be funded to terrorize our communities is an all-hands-on-deck crisis.
• Democrats have leverage, and they have to use it. Funding bills are subject to the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate–and Democrats took an important first step by using that to stop a full funding bill for ICE and Border Patrol. That’s a start. But they did give DHS two more weeks of funding while negotiations continue. Those two weeks must be used to secure ironclad restrictions on DHS that end this lawless violence. And to be clear, if Democrats simply pass an inadequate DHS bill after these two weeks, it will be an abject betrayal of their duty. 

READY TO TAKE ACTION NOW?

If you’re ready to take action already and don’t need any more background, here are quick links to the tools you can use to contact your Senators and demand they refuse to fund DHS. Otherwise, read on for everything you need to know about this fight and how you can take action.  

• Call both your senators
• Email your Members of Congress

Check out the ICE Out for Good website for more ways you can take action.

All actions under this banner are nonviolent and lawful, community-led, and grounded in moral witness, public accountability, and collective care. 

THE WONKY DETAILS

THE PROBLEM

• Border Patrol killed Alex Pretti on January 24 in Minneapolis. The video of federal forces tackling the man to the ground before opening fire is absolutely horrific. Everything about ICE and Border Patrol’s brutal invasion of our communities is horrific.
• Before that, on January 7, Renee Good was killed by ICE in Minnesota–but she wasn’t the first; thirty-two people died in ICE custody last year. ICE and Border Patrol are storming our streets and harassing and detaining people without due process based on the color of their skin, their language or accent, or where they live. This crackdown has been especially aggressive in Democratic states and sanctuary cities that have chosen to welcome immigrants, directly attacking local values, governance, and resistance.
• Trump has publicly threatened to escalate these attacks and deploy troops in Minnesota to quell protests by invoking the rarely-used Insurrection Act of 1807. This law allows the president to deploy U.S. military forces inside the country to suppress unrest, override state authority, and use troops in domestic law enforcement operations for which they are not trained. Americans want health care, affordability, and safe communities–not a blank check for the president to deploy troops in the streets. You can learn more in our Insurrection Act explainer.
• Let’s be clear: Trump’s immigration agenda isn’t about public safety but about racial suppression and political control. It’s grounded in a white supremacist vision of America—one where power is easier to hold when society is more homogenous, and those who don’t “belong” are either silenced, deported, or too afraid to exist freely. This moment is an opportunity to demand accountability for ICE and crystallize the growing public opposition to MAGA’s extreme and deadly anti-immigration agenda.

THE SOLUTION

• Republicans hold majorities in the House and Senate–but funding bills (called “appropriations”) must clear 60 votes in the Senate to proceed, so Democrats have real leverage in this fight. DHS will likely be funded through February 13 while Congress negotiates a deal.
• Unfortunately, Senate Democrats have abdicated that key leverage on funding twice now since Trump returned to power. They’ve. handed Trump and Elon Musk a blank check in March 2025 that included hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding for ICE, and caved in the shutdown fight in November to support a deal that did nothing to address the Republican-caused healthcare crisis. Additionally, Trump’s Big Ugly Bill cut Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and other crucial programs in order to funnel $170 billion to powering his mass deportation machine, including tripling ICE’s annual budget. Yet many Democrats in Congress still appear more concerned about being seen as “too soft” on immigration than they are about using their power to stop families being ripped apart and communities being terrorized by Trump’s brutal secret police on our dime.
• That’s why Congress needs to hear from us now–no funding without reforms. Until we can tear DHS down to the studs and completely overhaul our immigration system in this country, putting restrictions on ICE funding and cutting off its slush funds is the bare minimum every Member of Congress must support.
  • We need to light a fire under Democrats to demand they use their leverage on the DHS appropriations bill to impose serious reforms on ICE and Border Patrol and deny the Trump regime one penny more for its mass deportation machine.
  • Democratic Leaders Jeffries and Schumer need to do everything they can to unify Democrats around strong, concrete redlines for any DHS funding agreement. 
  • And, while most Republicans continue to rubberstamp Trump’s atrocities, some are becoming bolder in criticizing ICE’s lawlessness and pattern of shredding constitutional protections. The louder we are and the more we organize our communities to take action, the harder it will be for Republicans to continue backing Trump’s terror campaign.

Democrats need to stop whining about the limits of minority power and start fighting as hard as their constituents are to stop this regime’s mounting atrocities. We’re not accepting excuses, and we will hold every Member of Congress accountable who chooses complicity and cowardice over courage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Doesn’t ICE already have a ton of money? 

Yes, ICE’s budget exploded under Trump’s Big Ugly Bill, so the agency will still be flush with cash to keep operating even if Congress does not pass a new funding bill before current funding expires. That means that limiting new money is not enough, we need enforceable restrictions.

Aren’t other things also funded by DHS? Why should we risk those programs?

Yes, agencies like FEMA and TSA are both funded by the DHS appropriations bill.

Isn’t this just asking for another government shutdown? Why should we reach out when Democrats already folded in the last two big appropriations fights?

We know a shutdown would be enormously disruptive; so is ICE’s terror campaign in our communities.

What happens if just DHS shuts down? Does that stop ICE and Border Patrol from operation?

Unfortunately, no, that’s not how it would work.

OUR DEMANDS

Alex Pretti and Renee Good’s killings are part of a broader pattern of unchecked violence, impunity, and abuse carried out by federal immigration enforcement agencies against our communities.

We know that many changes are necessary to halt this assault on our communities. Indivisible is organizing around these demands that have the potential to move via the appropriations fight. These are a starting point for the full scope of what changes need to take place at DHS. 

Congress must refuse to fund ICE and Border Patrol without serious reforms. Every Member of Congress should publicly oppose the DHS appropriations bill unless it:

• Ensures not one penny more moves to ICE or Border Patrol.  ICE alone already has a budget bigger than most countries’ militaries. No reforms, as necessary as they are, could justify funneling even more taxpayer dollars to Trump’s secret police and mass deportation machine. 
• Pulls ICE and Border Patrol out of Minneapolis and the rest of our communities.
• Stops ICE or Border Patrol enforcement at designated ‘sensitive locations’ such as houses of worship, day cares, and hospitals. These locations are meant to provide vital services, and should not become sites of intimidation or threats of violence.
• Ends Kavanaugh Stops. The bill must prohibit ICE and Border Patrol from targeting people based on their race, language or accent, place of employment, or location at the time of the apprehension.
• Ends Warrantless Arrests. Congress must put an end to the administration’s unlawful practice of arresting people without a warrant, and entering homes without a judicial warrant.

We can’t wait around while ICE harms more people. Indivisible and our coalition partners demand that Congress write a DHS appropriations bill that halts the violence being perpetrated in our communities by ICE and Border Patrol and holds immigration agents accountable. Long term, we know that there is deeper work to strip DHS all the way down to the studs. And of course we urgently need to ensure Minnesota state and local authorities can investigate and deliver justice for the shootings of Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti. This fight is the first of many to halt the terror.

OUR MESSAGE

▶️ We are outraged by the killing of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by ICE and Border Patrol. We grieve their deaths and the deaths of all those killed in ICE detention.

▶️ ICE has been escalating its cruel deployments into our communities. This recent killing is not an isolated incident, but the devastating and predictable result of ICE’s lawless operations and President Trump’s abuse of power.

▶️ We demand real accountability and not one penny more for ICE. Congress must reject funding increases in the DHS appropriations bill and legislate new restrictions to reform ICE and Border Patrol.

We will meet ICE’s violence with steadfast nonviolence and lawful protest. We won’t stand for our neighbors being terrorized with our taxpayer dollars.

Take Action

As they debate the DHS funding bill, your Members of Congress – especially Senators – need to hear from you:

• Call both your senators
• Email your Members of Congress

Check out the ICE Out for Good website for more ways you can take action.

What else can you do?

• Honor and humanize the lives taken by ICE.
• Demand accountability, transparency, and immediate investigation into the killing of Renee Good–including that the FBI release all related records to and cooperate with Minnesota local authorities. We need an independent investigation.
• Expose the broader pattern of ICE violence–including the 30+ lives lost in ICE detention in 2025.
• Call for ICE to leave our communities.
• Build public pressure on elected officials and federal agencies.
• Create space for grief, solidarity, and collective action.
• Join local mutual aid efforts, sign up for grocery deliveries, or find other ways to help your neighbors.
• Strengthen local connections and neighborhood response systems.
• Support organizations working on the ground in Minnesota right now, including:
  • Immigrant Defense Network
  • Unidos MN
  • Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota

What can state local elected leaders do?

Each jurisdiction has its own laws, governing structures, and local needs. Please follow the lead of immigrant rights organizations on the ground, and tailor them to your own context. 

• Prepare your states and cities now for potential DHS enforcement operations in the near-future. Have a rapid response plan in place, and conduct Know Your Rights trainings with community members and leaders.
• Make sure your police departments know they are there to protect residents, not work with ICE to brutalize them. That means: 
  • No collaboration with secret police
  • NO SECRET POLICE: Ban law enforcement from being unidentifiable. No masks. No unmarked cars, etc.
  • End 287(g) agreements 
• Pause evictions. Ramp up meals programs. Ensure that people’s basic needs are met.
• Train schools and teachers so they are ready.
• Prepare to run your own investigations of ICE abuses, and hold agents who break the law accountable. Videotape your own evidence so the FBI cannot run a cover-up for another ICE killing in your city. Ensure you know the limits of your legal authorities, and be prepared to maximize them.