Amnesty International ICE Report Alleges Widespread Abuses During Immigration Operations

A 130-page investigation examines the actions of ICE, CBP, and other federal agencies in four metropolitan areas during immigration operations carried out in 2025 and 2026.

Amnesty International alleges widespread human rights violations during federal immigration operations in Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C., during 2025 and 2026.

• Why it matters: The organization argues that the cases it documented reflect broader patterns rather than isolated incidents and is calling for major changes to the U.S. immigration enforcement system.

154 Interviews and More Than 30 Pieces of Audiovisual Evidence

The 130-page report was compiled after 154 interviews and the analysis of more than 30 pieces of audiovisual evidence, according to EFE.

The investigation examined the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and other federal agencies.

🇺🇸⚖️ Amnesty International denounced an alleged pattern of human rights violations during immigration operations by U.S. authorities and called for the elimination of ICE.

📋 The organization collected over 150 testimonies between March and June in Chicago, New Orleans,… pic.twitter.com/5JwmbFkUTW

— El Nacional (@ElNacionalWeb) September 25, 2026

The fact: Amnesty examined operations in four metropolitan areas with different political, legal, and community contexts.

The organization says it documented arbitrary detention, racial discrimination, harassment and intimidation, unlawful surveillance, and unjustified use of force during some of the operations it investigated.

• It also identifies detention conditions that Amnesty considers cruel, inhuman, or degrading and says some cases should be investigated as possible violations of the prohibition against torture.

Amnesty Points to Possible Enforced Disappearances

The report says some detainees were held without being able to communicate with lawyers or family members and that, in certain cases, their whereabouts were not promptly disclosed.

Amnesty says some of these situations may constitute unlawful incommunicado detention or possible acts of enforced disappearance.

• The organization also examined incidents involving lethal force and says some unlawful killings should be investigated as possible extrajudicial executions.

The limit: These are Amnesty International’s findings and legal characterizations. The report is not a court ruling establishing criminal or civil liability in each individual case.

The Report Calls on Congress to Abolish ICE

Amnesty argues that the problems it identified cannot be explained solely by misconduct by individual agents, inadequate training, or failures of supervision.

Therefore, the organization is calling for ICE to be abolished and for the U.S. immigration enforcement system to be rebuilt in accordance with international human rights standards.

• The report also says the operations created fear across migrant and other affected communities, disrupting daily life around schools, medical facilities, places of worship, workplaces, and neighborhoods.

The publication broadens the debate beyond individual immigration operations: it places the practices, oversight, and institutional structure of federal immigration enforcement agencies under renewed scrutiny.