Dismantle ICE.

The killing of Alex Pretti shows Trump’s ICE can no longer continue in its current form.

I wish I didn’t have to write this.

Not after Renee Good. Not after Silverio Villegas Gonzáles. Not after Marimar Martinez. Not after the families I met in Chicago whose lives were torn apart by reckless immigration raids. Not after months of warning that federal agents were escalating tactics in ways that were dangerous, destabilizing, and unsustainable.

And yet here we are again.

This weekend, 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti should have made it home safely. Instead, he was killed during an encounter with federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Before his family could even begin to process their loss, before local authorities could complete a full investigation, before the public had clear facts, Trump’s White House pushed an all-too-familiar false narrative.

We were told he was a ‘domestic terrorist’ and a ‘would-be assassin’.
It was a lie.

We were told Alex approached agents with a gun.
Videos show he was holding a phone, not a weapon, when they pulled him to the ground.

We were told Alex “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” But video shows his last living act was one of service—moving to help a woman who had just been assaulted by an ICE agent—shoved and pepper sprayed by agents—putting himself at risk to assist another person in need.

Yet again this Administration is telling us not to believe our own eyes.

Well we cannot unsee the video of Alex’s unnecessary death. And if we want to stop future needless killings, we have to stand up now.

Here’s what we must do, before it’s too late.

First, there must be an independent investigation to uncover every fact in this case. And the agents who killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good must be held to account in a court of law. As I said before, federal agents are not immune from accountability.

In a twist right out of 1984, a federal judge had to issue a ruling to prevent the Trump administration from “destroying or altering” evidence related to Pretti’s killing.

Second, Congress must exert itself as the co-equal branch of government it is, and stop funding Trump’s ICE operation.

I have been using every tool in the congressional toolbox for months to curb the illegal behaviors of ICE and CBP. I called for an Inspector General investigation into the illegal activities of ICE during “Operation Midway Blitz.” I introduced legislation to prevent local law enforcement from being forced to work with ICE.

And just last week I offered an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security funding bill to withhold all resources to ICE until serious reforms are made: No more warrantless arrests, no more raids at sensitive locations such as schools and hospitals, no more CBP operating away from the border, and agents must wear body cameras and remove masks.

However, given the severity of the situation, I believe reforms to today’s ICE are no longer sufficient. As the saying goes: A fish rots from the head down. Trump’s ICE is thoroughly rotten from Trump, to Steven Miller, to Kristi Noem, and Gregory Bovino on down. The agency must be dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up.

I believe we need a secure border and immigration enforcement to remove serious security threats and keep dangerous drugs off Chicago’s streets. But that is not what Trump’s ICE is doing. And I fear no matter how many reassurances we are given, ICE under Trump will continue to violate laws and take innocent lives.

We are now even seeing Republicans wake up to what those of us in Chicago have known for months: ICE in its current form is now creating the very dangers it claims to combat. Even Republican senators are calling for investigations into the murders in Minneapolis. Bovino was correctly demoted and reassigned. The Judiciary Committee is calling Noem to testify. Republicans are floating executive orders to curb ICE and CBP.

But this is not enough. Trump and his crew of immigration zealots cannot be trusted to rein in an immigration paramilitary force that is completely out of control.

Trump’s ICE must be dismantled and replaced with a smaller, accountable agency focused on real security threats—not sweeping raids, not political theater, and not treating entire communities as enemies.

This is not about being “pro-” or “anti-” law enforcement. It’s about whether we are willing to demand that law enforcement operates within the law.

Alex Pretti’s family deserves answers. Minnesota deserves an independent investigation. And the American people deserve leaders who will stand up and say that no agency, no badge, and no administration is above accountability.

I signed onto Rep. Robin Kelly’s articles of impeachment against Kristi Noem. And last week I voted against the DHS funding bill so we can cut all funds to ICE in the House of Representatives. And I am cheered that my Democratic colleagues in the Senate are prepared to do the same.

We need a complete freeze on all funds to DHS until ICE and CBP are dismantled and overhauled.

What happened to Alex Pretti is heart wrenching. It should also be a wake-up call—not just for Minneapolis, not just for Chicago, but for the entire country.

We must act before the very freedoms that make America the envy of the world - freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom from violence at the hands of government - are eroded beyond recognition.

Justice requires transparency.
Democracy requires limits.
And this moment demands that we defend both.

— Mike Quigley