WASHINGTON, September 26: Amnesty International has called for the abolition of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, escalating criticism of the federal agency responsible for a central part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The demand appears in a new report examining the conduct of large-scale immigration operations.
Amnesty said its investigation drew on more than 150 testimonies collected between March and June in four major US cities. The organisation alleges that its findings show widespread human rights violations and argues that the current enforcement system cannot be repaired through limited changes. Those are the watchdog’s conclusions, rather than findings announced by a court.
The report arrives amid renewed scrutiny of federal agents’ methods. Dawn reported that a Venezuelan migrant, Wilber Garces Perez, was shot and wounded by an ICE agent in Austin, Texas, less than a week before the report’s release. It also noted the deaths of two Americans who were shot by federal agents in Minneapolis in January, incidents that prompted public outrage.
The agency sits at the centre of a wider debate over how the United States should enforce immigration law and what safeguards should apply during arrests, detention and deportation. Amnesty wants the government to replace ICE with a system it says would comply with international human rights standards.
According to Dawn’s report, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.
