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.”