New York City — Leaders of the nation’s legacy civil rights organizations are urging U.S. senators to vote against funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, citing what they describe as federal lawlessness and a series of fatal encounters involving federal agents across the country. The leaders, including those from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the NAACP and the National Urban League, issued a joint statement following the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and amid escalating concerns about aggressive federal immigration enforcement.
The statement addresses the killing of Pretti in Minneapolis and responds to what the organizations describe as increasingly aggressive actions by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The groups emphasized that their concerns are rooted in decades of advocacy against state-sanctioned racial violence and reflect their historic roles in landmark civil rights litigation and policy reform.
The joint statement, published by the Legal Defense Fund, comes as federal law enforcement agencies face heightened national scrutiny and growing concern over the expansion of immigration enforcement powers with limited oversight and accountability.
According to the Legal Defense Fund, leaders of the nation’s legacy civil rights organizations condemn the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, the killing of Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent earlier this month, the killing of Keith Porter by an off-duty federal agent and other fatal encounters involving federal law enforcement. The organizations further demand an end to the violence and meaningful accountability.
The statement emphasizes that a pattern of lawlessness, lack of accountability and erosion of civil rights under the Department of Homeland Security is reflected in these deaths at the hands of federal law enforcement and ICE. It further warns that such misconduct is becoming increasingly normalized and that, without proper accountability and congressional oversight, the infrastructure of authoritarianism has begun to take root.
The statement continues with the Legal Defense Fund asserting that the violence unfolding in Minneapolis is linked to a long American tradition of state power being used to surveil, control and punish Black and Brown communities.
The Legal Defense Fund adds, “This is a humanitarian crisis. This is a civil rights crisis. This is a constitutional crisis.”
The organization also states that federal obstruction of independent investigations has worsened conditions for state and local officials, alleging repeated denials of access to evidence and crime scenes needed to conduct thorough investigations.
The statement urges every U.S. senator to vote no on any legislation that funds ICE or DHS surveillance, intelligence and enforcement operations. It also requests immediate meetings with both the Senate Democratic Caucus and the Senate Republican Caucus to address the situation in Minnesota and the need for congressional intervention.
Follow the Vanguard on Social Media – X, Instagram and Facebook. Subscribe the Vanguard News letters. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org/donate or give directly through ActBlue. Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.
