ACLU Comment on Justice Department Notice to Halt Legal Orientation Program for Immigrants

WASHINGTON – The Senate today blocked an appropriations bill that would have renewed ICE’s excessive budget with no strings attached. The vote comes less than a week after federal immigration agents killed 37-year-old ICU nurse, Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis, sparking nationwide protests against ICE and Border Patrol’s growing lawlessness and demands for Congress to rein in ICE’s abuses. More than 280,000 people joined the American Civil Liberties Union in sending messages to their members of Congress urging them to reject any bill that would fuel ICE and Border Patrol’s lawless operations. Now, Senate Democrats are calling for meaningful reforms, including an end to indiscriminate stops and warrantless arrests by ICE, enforceable standards and accountability for violent misconduct by federal agents, and requirements that agents identify themselves and take off their masks. In response to this news, Kate Voigt, senior policy counsel at the ACLU, had the following reaction: “Today’s vote is a testament to the power of the people, who made their voices heard and relentlessly called on their Senators to rein in ICE’s abuses. Public opinion is firmly against the violence, chaos, and abuse of our rights being inflicted by the Trump-Vance administration’s cruel mass deportation agenda. The American people don’t want to live in Stephen Miller’s dystopian police state. “We applaud the senators refusing to be complicit in these police state tactics. Now we need them to insist on real, enforceable changes to rein in ICE and Border Patrol’s increasingly dangerous immigration enforcement operations. These safeguards aren’t just common sense – they're critical to the integrity of our laws and our freedom.”

NEW YORK – New documents obtained by the ACLU, ACLU of Virginia, and ACLU of North Carolina reveal that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is considering six new locations for potential ICE detention centers. At least two of the six facilities in question are former correctional facilities with an established history of violence, sexual abuse, and corruption. The findings come less than a month after the Washington Post reported that the Trump administration is planning to convert industrial warehouses into ICE detention facilities designed to hold more than 80,000 immigrant detainees at a time. “It’s egregious that ICE is actively considering reopening facilities notorious for abuse and corruption – and they’re using our taxpayer dollars to fuel this expansion,” said Eunice Cho, senior counsel at the ACLU’s National Prison Project. “Six people have already died in ICE custody in the first three weeks of the year. ICE has given us no reason to believe that these detention centers would be any safer than the abusive facilities it already operates." The 98 pages of records were disclosed in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and affiliates in October 2025, after ICE failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by the organizations. The litigation follows a series of lawsuits filed by the ACLU and its affiliates seeking details about ICE’s plans to expand detention capacity nationwide. Already, the ACLU’s FOIA litigation has revealed critical details about ICE’s plans, including details on which current and new facilities are being considered across the Midwest, South, and West Coast. “ICE has made clear that it relies on secrecy. The heavily redacted documents we obtained through litigation expose disturbing expansion plans,” said Michele Delgado, staff attorney at the ACLU of North Carolina. “When North Carolinians must fight for basic information about federal enforcement in their own state, the public cannot trust that these decisions are in their best interest.” The documents disclosed by ICE also provide information regarding the history of facility use, available transport, proximity to local hospitals, immigration courts, and legal services. The facilities under consideration include: The Augusta Correctional Center in Craigsville, VA. The proposal states that the detention center is in discussions with a private operator to run the facility. The facility recently closed in 2024, and people held at the facility have endured sexual assault. Former officers at the correctional center have also plead guilty to smuggling drugs into the facility. The Rivers Correctional Facility in Winton, NC, which is owned and operated by the GEO Group, Inc. The GEO Group previously lost federal contracts to detain people at this facility due to findings of violence and sexual assault at the facility. Former officers at the facility were also recently sentenced for contraband and bribery. An unidentified facility – likely the former American Hebrew Academy, run by the Baptiste Group – located in or near Greensboro, NC. The facility had previously been slated to serve as a migrant children’s detention facility but was shut down in 2024. An unidentified facility run by HomelandsUSA, which has supported the construction of the border wall in the past. An unidentified facility run by the Baptiste Group, located in or near Harrisburg, PA. Another unidentified facility in an undesignated location, which ICE seeks to use as a “base camp.” Already, Congress has allocated more than $45 billion for ICE detention alone. If opened, the facilities would increase ICE’s capacity to detain people who are immigrants, adding to the more than 70,000 immigrants currently in ICE detention. In just the first three weeks of 2026, six people have died in ICE custody, underscoring advocates’ concerns that any more funding for ICE detention will undoubtedly lead to preventable deaths and abuses. “The Trump administration cannot be allowed to continue its weaponization of immigration detention in secret,” said Sophia Gregg, senior immigrants’ rights attorney at the ACLU of Virginia. “As we have seen, abuse and civil rights violations are rampant in these facilities, and the public has a right to know where and how the government intends to expand its use of these deadly facilities." The FOIA records are available here: https://www.aclu.org/documents/foia-response-washington-field-office-detention-expansion

MINNEAPOLIS — Today, federal agents shot and killed a man in the Eat Street neighborhood of south Minneapolis after brutally beating him in front of witnesses. Video from an on-the-ground reporter reveals that multiple shots were fired, with the agents believed to be standing over the man when he was struck, apparently in his chest. The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Minnesota strongly condemn this killing and demand these violent and dangerous federal agents immediately withdraw from Minnesota — and other communities across the country. “Yesterday tens of thousands of Minnesotans from all walks of life marched through the streets in subzero temperatures to demand ICE stop terrorizing our communities, and today we wake up to the heartbreaking news that federal officials killed another person. ,” said Deepinder Mayell, executive director of ACLU of Minnesota. “This tragedy is further proof that these federal agents are out of control and critically endangering our communities. ICE and CBP must end their operations in our city before anyone else is harmed, and an independent investigation must be conducted.” In July 2025, Congress voted to add an unprecedented $170 billion to the Trump administration’s already massive budget for immigration enforcement, which has funded these indiscriminate raids. Congress is now negotiating the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) budget for the coming year, which would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, enabling them to continue their lawless operations across the country without adding any serious limits on their abusive and violent tactics. “After the horrific shooting of Renee Good, the Trump administration recklessly escalated and deployed even more heavily armed agents into Minneapolis, and, today, we are again seeing the devastating and predictable consequences,” said Naureen Shah, director of immigration policy and government affairs at ACLU. “Congress must rein ICE in before what happened in Minneapolis happens yet again. Senators must reject a DHS budget that allows these lawless agencies to continue putting our communities in danger.” In recent weeks, the ACLU of Minnesota and its partners filed two lawsuits arising from ICE’s assault on Minnesotans, Hussen v. Noem, challenging the agency’s warrantless arrests and racial profiling, and Tincher v. Noem, a lawsuit challenging ICE violence and misconduct towards Minnesotans exercising their First Amendment rights to assemble, observe, and protest federal agents’ immigration enforcement activities in our streets. Earlier this week, a federal appeals court temporarily suspended the trial court’s order in Tincher blocking the government from retaliating against protestors and observers.

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives today passed an appropriations bill that would renew ICE’s excessive budget, with no strings attached, adding to the over $170 billion in taxpayer funds already allocated for immigration enforcement in July 2025. This bill also comes amidst public fear and outrage in response to widespread abuses and violence by ICE and Border Patrol, including their continued, escalating assault on Minneapolis. Recent public opinion polling in the wake of the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis shows ICE’s approval rating is at its lowest since President Trump took office in January 2025. If passed in the Senate, the bill would signal a stamp of approval for ICE, even as the agency continues to operate with impunity and growing disregard for constitutional rights. In response to this news, Kate Voigt, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, had the following reaction: “The House vote in favor of excessive funding for ICE with no meaningful accountability measures is wildly out of touch with polling that shows the majority of voters oppose ICE and Border Patrol’s attacks on our communities. The bill fails to rein in ICE and Border Patrol at a time when they are engaged in an unprecedented assault on our rights, safety, and democratic way of life. The billions in funding in this bill will only embolden ICE and CBP to continue arresting our neighbors – immigrant and U.S. citizen alike – no matter the costs to our communities, economy, and integrity of our Constitution. “While the House narrowly passed this bill, we thank the Members of Congress who held the line and voted against this harmful legislation. Now we need our Senators to hold firm and refuse to be complicit in fueling ICE’s reckless abuses in our communities.”