NC Justice Center condemns escalating ICE/CBP militarization and urges Congress to stop funding violence 

(January 24, 2026—Raleigh, NC) We are committed to the safety, dignity, and humanity of immigrant communities and to confronting the violence being carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) across the country. These masked militias are exceeding their authority and terrorizing people across the nation. The heightening militarization of federal immigration agents endangers our families, our communities, and our future. 

The devastating and unacceptable consequences of the ever-escalating use of militarization and force—rather than care, accountability and respect for human life—are overwhelming. 

The violence in Minnesota alone is harrowing. On Jan. 14, ICE tear-gassed the Jackson family, including six children, as they were simply trying to drive home, causing their infant to stop breathing. As the week began, ChongLy “Scott” Thao, a U.S. citizen, was dragged out of his house in frigid weather, unclothed, humiliated in front of onlookers, only to be released later that day.   

On Jan. 7, Renee Nicole Good, a peaceful observer, died at the scene after being shot multiple times by a masked ICE agent. Each of these incidents is horrifying on its own; however, they are only a small part of the continuing unchecked violence by these federal agents.  

We have witnessed other non-stop, outrageous civil rights violations take place at the hands of federal immigration agents in Minnesota, including: 

• blatant racial profiling and targeting, 

• ramming vehicles,  

• dragging people from their cars,  

• restraining and targeting children as young as two and five years old, 

• tear-gassing students, 

• targeting and arresting observers,  

• holding demonstrators at gunpoint or attacking them with weapons, leaving some with permanent blindness and other injuries, 

• threatening and using deadly force, including at least one other shooting; and 

• preventing attorneys from accessing their clients. 

This terror and violence is not restricted to Minnesota. In just the past few weeks, federal immigration agents shot two people in Portland, OR, and assaulted two Latino U.S. citizens in Salisbury, NC. On Dec. 31, 2025, an off-duty ICE agent fatally shot Keith Porter in Northridge, CA.  In the time it takes us to finalize and publish this statement, assuredly new atrocities will have occurred.  

If immigration agents are comfortable engaging in this level of violence in the public eye, we should be incredibly concerned about the violence that occurs hidden behind the walls of detention facilities.  

Alarmingly, there have been six deaths in ICE facilities so far this year, including two at an El Paso detention facility that has been under scrutiny for continuing and egregious human rights violations. These deaths are the unacceptable outcome of a government agency with no accountability, and we cannot allow them to become normal occurrences.  

In 2025, thirty-two people died in federal immigration custody, and thousands remain in holding facilities where they face physical and sexual violence, medical neglect, and appalling conditions.   

Our communities deserve safety without fear. Families deserve to live without the threat of violence from their own government. 

We urge federal authorities to immediately suspend ICE operations everywhere to put a stop to this unchecked violence.  

We also call on Congress to stop this reign of terror by refusing to fund these dangerous and unaccountable operations, removing federal immigration agents from our communities, and conducting an independent and transparent investigation into all ICE and CBP-perpetrated violence and fatalities. 

Please visit our immigrant resources page for updated information on immigrant rights and emergency planning.