Amnesty International reported on Thursday that the United States government committed human rights violations during federal immigration enforcement operations in Washington DC, Chicago, New Orleans, and Minneapolis between 2025 and 2026.
The non-governmental organization reached this conclusion following an investigation into actions taken by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and other federal agencies. The probe included 154 interviews and an analysis of more than 30 audio-visual items.
The findings are detailed in a 130-page report released on Thursday titled,“‘We Had Whistles, They Had Guns’: Human Rights Violations in US Immigration Enforcement Operations and the Case to Abolish ICE.”
According to a summary, the human rights violations documented by the organization include racial profiling, discriminatory and arbitrary stops and arrests, harassment, intimidation, and unlawful use of force, particularly lethal force, which in some instances may constitute extrajudicial execution.
The report also cited the «repression of peaceful protests, unlawful use of less-lethal force, unlawful surveillance, cruel, inhumane and degrading detention conditions that may violate the prohibition on torture, and unlawful incommunicado detention and possible acts of enforced disappearance.»
Possible ‘extrajudicial executions’
According to Amnesty International, the mass detention and deportation system of US president Donald Trump administration is driven by «racist, xenophobic and false narratives and white supremacist theories,» targeting «as many racialized migrants, asylum seekers and refugees from the United States as possible.»
In that regard, the report highlights that operations across the four cities relied on racially discriminatory actions, leading to arbitrary arrests accompanied by harassment, intimidation, degrading treatment, and unjustified force by federal agents.
Specifically, the organization lists examples of unlawful lethal force, including the shootings of Marimar Martínez and Silverio Villegas González in Chicago; Julio César Sosa-Celis, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis; and Philip Brown and Justin Bryant Nelson in Washington, D.C.
“The unlawful killings of Villegas González, Good and Pretti may amount to extrajudicial executions,” the report stated.
Additionally, the report denounces the crackdown on protests and the use of less-lethal weapons, such as tear gas and pepper spray, against rapid response network members, observers, and demonstrators, as well as the use of facial recognition technologies that infringe on the right to privacy.
Calls for the dismantling of ICE
Regarding detentions, Amnesty International noted a pattern of misusing field offices, processing centers, and official facilities for prolonged holding, at times under «inhumane conditions» and involving «coercion» that it asserts could constitute «torture.»
The organization also documented instances where detainees were denied legal counsel and family contact. Lawyers were prevented from reaching clients, and ICE occasionally refused to confirm custody or reveal individuals’ locations, amounting to «incommunicado detention and possible acts of enforced disappearance.»
The report adds that human rights violations are not merely attributable to individual agent misconduct, lack of training, or poor oversight, but rather stem from an institutional framework «openly supported and expanded by the Trump administration,» coupled with a lack of accountability.
Amnesty International concluded that the «scale, persistence and structural nature of these institutional failures cannot be adequately addressed through discrete reforms,» making the «fundamental institutional dismantling» of ICE necessary to bring the system into alignment with international obligations.
Finally, the report highlighted that the operations created a pervasive climate of fear across immigrant communities and beyond, causing many individuals to withdraw from public life and disrupting daily activities in schools, healthcare centers, places of worship, workplaces, and neighborhoods