Disability Rights California, the nation’s largest disability rights organization, released a statement Friday condemning what it described as a wave of state-sponsored violence and calling for an immediate end to policies that it says are fueling death and terror across the country.
Responding to the killings of Keith Porter, Jr., in Los Angeles and Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Disability Rights California said it stands with immigrant communities nationwide and “with all those calling for an end to recent violent and criminal actions of our agencies,” according to the organization’s statement.
DRC attributed these deaths to what it called “dangerous, racist, and xenophobic policies implemented by the federal government.”
According to DRC, disabled people are overrepresented in police encounters and face higher rates of arrest, harm and death. People of color with disabilities, the organization said, are even more likely to be harmed by law enforcement.
DRC reiterated its opposition to law enforcement training and reform approaches and said it continues to advocate for alternatives to policing. The organization voiced support for mobile crisis teams composed of professionals and peers who are dispatched to resolve crises, as well as for community-based groups “that operate without violence or coercion.”
“DRC is a tireless advocate for reducing the number of interactions between disabled people and agents of law enforcement,” the organization said, according to the report.
DRC said its ongoing investigations into ICE detention facilities show that the violence it describes is not limited to public encounters but is also occurring out of public view inside immigration detention centers nationwide.
“We know of eight deaths in ICE custody already this year and over 30 in 2025. It is likely that there are many more than have been reported,” DRC said.
DRC also reported that 800 detainees are missing and unaccounted for by ICE at “Alligator Alcatraz,” a South Florida ICE detention facility. According to DRC, ICE and other agencies are rapidly acquiring and constructing warehouse-style detention spaces across the United States, including a proposed 1,300-person Utah “mega camp” intended to incarcerate unhoused people.
As reported by DRC, disabled people appear in jails, prisons and immigration detention facilities at disproportionate rates nationwide.
“We call for an end to state-funded violence and death and real accountability for those who have directed and carried out all of this harm, both in public and behind locked gates,” DRC said in its release.
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