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On Saturday, I viewed a harrowing video that has captured the attention of millions across the nation. In Minnesota, federal immigration officers fatally shot another civilian at close range. Right from the beginning, the officers escalated the situation unnecessarily. Before the first shot was fired, the man lay on the ground, unarmed and presenting no threat. The officers unleashed over ten rounds in a mere five seconds.
Having served in high-pressure combat situations in Iraq, I understand the challenge of discerning threats in civilian environments. However, my training emphasized de-escalation over aggression. What transpired in Minnesota was not law enforcement; it was murder.
Violence has no place in our law enforcement agencies. When those tasked with ensuring our safety resort to shooting unarmed Americans, it indicates a profound issue within the system.
Unfortunately, this incident is not isolated. It is part of a troubling pattern that has emerged since federal agents, including those from the Customs and Border Protection agency, arrived in Minnesota.
Just last January, an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Good, a mother of three, in Minneapolis. She was shot three times in the face at point-blank range. This shocking and senseless act has caused outrage throughout the nation. It raises a daunting question: if ICE behaves this way when under public scrutiny, how do they act when the cameras are off?
Such incidents reveal a clear trend: when government agencies treat entire communities as suspects and measure success by arrest quotas, innocent lives frequently end up caught in the crossfire.
The abusive actions do not stop there. Under the leadership of individuals like Stephen Miller, ICE has targeted anyone who appears Hispanic or speaks Spanish, including American citizens. In Arizona, ICE detained a Navajo man who had identification solely due to his appearance. In Minnesota, federal immigration agents broke into a residence to detain a U.S. citizen at gunpoint, all while subjecting him to exposure in frigid conditions as he was led outside in his underwear. Additionally, a Minnesota resident with a U.S. passport was apprehended simply based on his accent.
President Trump, alongside Stephen Miller, has transformed ICE from an agency meant to safeguard Americans into a private army. Rather than performing its intended function of protection, Trump’s ICE has inflicted harm on American communities. The administration’s removal of protective measures and encouragement of aggression has fostered a climate in which reckless force is common, while accountability is perceived as a hindrance.
I cannot, in good conscience, support funding for this rogue agency as long as these abuses persist.
This is not the vision Americans endorsed when they voted. During my conversations with Arizonans throughout my campaign — across the political spectrum from Democrats to moderates and Republicans — the consistent message was clear: secure the border, enforce laws, and do so in a manner that protects families. Voters sought the deportation of individuals with criminal histories. Thus, when Trump campaigned on targeting ‘the worst of the worst,’ it resonated. Sadly, it has turned out to be a false promise.
I supported Trump’s decision to label cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and praised his actions when border crossings decreased. However, instead of fulfilling his commitments to target genuine threats, he has mobilized masked agents to our neighborhoods, sweeping up all immigrants, regardless of their backgrounds, including long-term residents with no criminal records.
This escalation comes after Supreme Court justices appointed by Republicans effectively sanctioned ICE’s racial profiling practices during regular enforcement.
The downside of this approach is profound. Trump’s administration fixates on arbitrary quotas, thereby jeopardizing the safety of American communities. Thousands of federal law enforcement officials have been diverted from tackling violent crimes, drug trafficking, and child exploitation to focus on arresting, detaining, and deporting immigrants. Every moment spent pursuing our neighbors—be they students, families, or workers—is a moment that benefits drug traffickers, fraudsters, and child predators.
The economic impact is equally significant. When workers disappear from jobs overnight, local businesses suffer from employee shortages, projects come to a standstill, and costs inevitably escalate. Additionally, when families feel afraid to drive their children to school or seek medical attention, the entire community bears the weight of these fears. This state of affairs cannot be deemed ‘order’; it is chaos, crafted in Washington and handed to hardworking Americans.
Individuals should not live in fear of those meant to protect them. To move forward, we must rethink the current role of ICE.
Our primary focus should shift away from politically motivated tactics and back to genuine community safety efforts. The Homeland Security funding bill pending in the Senate falls short of mitigating the agency’s unchecked power. I will not support a budget that allows ICE to continue terrorizing our communities.
Instead, we require reforms that render ICE a streamlined, professional body dedicated to actual security threats — devoid of political pressures and media soundbites. This necessitates the establishment of clear use-of-force guidelines prioritizing de-escalation, as well as restrictions on dangerous methods, mandatory body cameras, and genuine transparency and oversight.
That is the focus of the Stop Excessive Force in Immigration Act of 2026, which Senator Mark Kelly and I introduced. This legislation aims to instill crucial accountability and limit the excesses that have marred Trump’s ICE. It proposes new standards of accountability and professional conduct, including clear use-of-force guidelines and other basic measures. The guiding principle is simple: enforce the law lawfully and create a safer America.
Fundamentally, we do not have to settle for this current reality. We can secure our borders without casting entire communities as suspects. We can enforce immigration laws without creating fear or endangering innocent lives. Earlier this year, I proposed a detailed plan to revamp our dysfunctional immigration system. This plan emphasizes strengthening border security, expediting legal processing, and fostering legal pathways that benefit American enterprises and workers.
America’s immigration system is indeed broken. However, the heavy-handed methods employed by Trump are not the solution. Instead, these tactics will exacerbate existing issues: eroding trust, diminishing safety, and generating chaos. We must strive for better outcomes, and indeed, we can.
