‘A regime of brutality’: ICE enforcement draws fire from Jayapal, local leaders after fatal shootings in Texas and Maine

Standing alongside immigrant-rights advocates, faith leaders, and legal organizations, U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal denounced what she called a “regime of brutality against immigrants” as federal immigration enforcement ramps up in the Puget Sound region and across the country.

At a press conference hosted with OneAmerica, the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network (WAISN), the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington, and Rev. Shalom Agtarap of First United Methodist Church of Tacoma, Jayapal tied local fears to a broader pattern of deadly U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-involved encounters and aggressive enforcement.

ICE killings spark outrage, demands for investigation

The event was held in the wake of the killings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Johan Sebastián Guerrero in Maine, both shot by ICE agents.

Jayapal described the incidents as part of a larger pattern of “fatal shootings after fatal shootings” with “zero accountability.”

She said she has led a letter signed by nearly 200 members of Congress demanding full, independent investigations into the killings and calling on federal authorities not to deport witnesses who were present.

“These individuals were not even targets of any investigation,” Jayapal said, noting that Araujo’s family learned of his death from social media and that Guerrero’s wife and young daughter watched as he was shot and then handcuffed.

She framed these cases as the “tip of the iceberg,” arguing that many other incidents never make the news but still terrorize immigrant communities.

Local focus: Northwest Detention Center and Puget Sound enforcement

Locally, speakers highlighted conditions at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, a private, for-profit immigration detention facility long criticized by advocates for poor conditions and lack of oversight.

Jayapal pointed to a recent court ruling requiring the facility to allow health inspections, and pledged to continue working with a coalition of local organizations and Washington Governor Bob Ferguson’s administration to ensure those inspections happen and to press for accountability.

“You want to talk about what’s happening in these detention centers? They are disobeying the laws, and they’re being enabled to do that by the Trump administration,” she said, calling for full access to inspect and document health and safety conditions.

Community groups at the event urged residents to sign up for constitutional observer trainings, support rapid response networks, and stay connected to local organizing efforts to monitor enforcement actions, and support affected families.

Criticism of ICE funding and enforcement priorities

Jayapal, the Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, sharply criticized the scale of funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection, and the lack of basic accountability measures such as body cameras.

She noted that Congress has approved more than $210 billion in recent funding for the Department of Homeland Security and tens of billions specifically for ICE and CBP.

“They’re saying that they don’t have money for body cameras, they don’t have money for accountability. It’s absolutely absurd,” she said, arguing that the same budgets are tied to cuts in healthcare, education, and other services that families depend on.

Jayapal said she and other Democrats refused to support increased enforcement funding without reforms such as requiring judicial warrants for ICE arrests in homes and on the streets, but that “none of those things have been put into place.”

Immigration system under strain

Beyond enforcement, Jayapal described an immigration system that she said is being deliberately “slow-walked” or shut down:

She criticized new policies that would cap student visas and limit how long international students can remain in the U.S., warning that many would not be able to finish four-year or graduate degrees. Jayapal also pointed to a massive backlog in green card processing and said applications are now effectively frozen, leaving families and workers in limbo for months or years.

The ending of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), she said, has thrown “millions” into precarious status, even as immigration courts push “mega master hearings” where dozens of unrepresented people appear at once with little notice.

Jayapal argued these policies collectively amount to a strategy to “shut down every legal form of immigration”, undermining universities, employers, and families that rely on immigrants’ contributions.

Call to abolish ICE and build a humane system

Throughout her remarks, Jayapal and local leaders framed immigration enforcement not only as a legal and policy issue but as a moral crisis.

“We are living under a regime of brutality against immigrants,” she said, adding that ICE, created after 9/11, is “a newly created agency” that “does not need to exist for us to enforce immigration laws.”

She called for abolishing ICE and replacing the current system with an “orderly, functioning, humane immigration system” that treats immigration as the civil matter it is and recognizes the essential role immigrants play in food production, research, healthcare, and the broader economy.

Jayapal also renewed demands for stronger background checks and training for immigration agents, citing reports that the agent involved in Guerrero’s shooting had a history of violent or abusive behavior.

Community response and next steps

Local organizations at the press conference emphasized that community resistance through documented court challenges, organized rapid response to enforcement operations, and public protest has already helped shift public opinion on immigration.

Jayapal said polling has moved significantly away from support for mass deportations, which she attributed to sustained organizing by Black, Latino, Asian, Indigenous, and white communities, as well as faith and labor groups.

“These are the heroes that are saving our democracy,” Jayapal said of community members who intervene to stop detentions or support affected families. “We are here today to demand an end to this brutality, an end to the kidnapping, to the disappearing, to the incarcerating, and a recognition that every single one of us is a human being.”

Organizers urged reporters and community members to stay engaged as they continue to press for independent investigations into the recent killings, greater oversight of the Northwest Detention Center, and broad national reforms to the immigration system.

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