Congress approved five of six federal funding bills this week, delaying funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over concerns regarding recent immigration crackdowns, including killings and other abuses. Congress is now negotiating possible reforms for DHS and two of its agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The American Immigration Lawyers Association and rights organizations from across the country have compiled a list of 10 legislative proposals to include in the bill. They include Congressional investigations into deadly use of force and killings, stopping racial profiling, ending qualified immunity for immigration enforcement officers, halting warrantless arrests, and putting a stop to detaining families. Congress should consider at least some of these policy recommendations and produce—with no excuses—a robust set of reforms to strengthen oversight and rein in the rampant abuses that have led to this point.
Thousands have taken to the streets to protest the recent killings and other abuses in Minneapolis and across the US. They are speaking out against the ways in which immigration enforcement officials conceal their identities, break down doors without judicial warrants, and target people for arrest based on their perceived nationality and the color of their skin. Many of these arrests are violent, leading to deaths, injury, and at times detention of US citizens. Detained people are often abused, neglected, and deprived of their due process rights.
Human Rights Watch investigations, over various administrations and many years, have documented abusive actions by ICE and CBP. There has been little to no accountability for agents and other officials implicated in unlawful killings, other physical and verbal assaults, or sending immigrants to be arbitrarily detained and tortured in third countries. All of this has made communities fearful and undermined public safety.
It is long past time for Congress to exercise meaningful oversight of DHS and secure accountability for human rights abuses. In 2025, Congress increased the DHS budget by $165 billion in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but the Trump administration has drastically reduced staffing in oversight offices at the agency, eliminating internal oversight mechanisms. In drafting the DHS funding bill, Congress should prioritize oversight of enforcement operations and detention and create accountability for human rights violations.
Congress should not allow DHS to continue using abusive tactics with impunity.
