Amnesty International calls for abolishing ICE
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A federal agent searches for undocumented immigrants last year in Chicago. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Amnesty International is calling for the federal government to abolish ICE.
Why it matters: Amnesty goes beyond calls to reform immigration enforcement, arguing the abuses it documented show the agency should be dismantled.
Driving the news: The declaration accompanies Amnesty's new report, "We Had Whistles, They Had Guns: Human Rights Violations in U.S. Immigration Enforcement Operations and the Case to Abolish ICE."
- The report outlines ICE, CBP and other federal immigration operations in Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New Orleans and Washington, D.C., over the last year.
The latest: Witnesses captured immigration officers detaining a U.S. citizen this week in Evanston, mistaking him for someone who had an arrest warrant. A witness told the New York Times that agents left the man "bloodied on the ground."
- DHS told the Times the man had refused to cooperate and that agents offered to help him, but he declined.
The other side: ICE didn't respond to Axios' request for comment about the Amnesty report.
The fine print: Amnesty International interviewed 154 people directly impacted by immigration enforcement operations in the four cities between March and June 2026.
State of play: The organization examined actions during Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago from September to December of 2025, a period which included agents killing Silverio Villegas-González in Franklin Park.
- The report also documents federal agents killing Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis in January.
Zoom in: Amnesty details what they say were instances of racial profiling and arbitrary detention based on people's skin color, ethnicity, language and neighborhood.
- They also point to unlawful use of force, saying agents approached people with guns drawn, smashed vehicles and threw people to the ground.
- A federal judge issued an injunction last November with stricter guidelines on use of force, a month after she ordered officers to turn on body cams during arrests.
- Amnesty accuses agents of using excessive force against protesters, as well, including at the Broadview immigration facility in suburban Chicago.
- Broadview is cited extensively in the report, accusing the government of "inhumane" conditions and long-term stays despite Broadview not officially being designated a detention facility.
What they're saying: "I grew up crossing the [U.S.-Mexico] border back and forth to visit my family. I grew up during a time before ICE," University of Minnesota law professor Liliana Zaragoza said during a press call on Thursday.
- "We're not safer today because we have a larger immigration apparatus. We're not safer today because ICE is kidnapping people off of the streets," Zaragoza added.
What we're watching: In addition to the abolition of ICE, Amnesty calls for investigations into the killings of Villegas-Gonzalez, Pretti and Good, as well as use-of-force investigations into Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman who agents shot in October.