COLUMN | ICE threatens our human rights

“Human rights does not come with a citizenship requirement.” – We The Urban

Operating fully funded and government-backed, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is murdering American citizens, as well as detaining children and innocents in broad daylight.

In recent weeks, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was shot by Border Patrol agents. The Department of Homeland Security claims that Pretti “violently resisted," and that he was brandishing a “nine-millimeter high capacity handgun.” This gun was not in his hands but in a holster, and he was lawfully carrying it. He was recording with his cellphone. This scene was captured on camera.

Also in Minnesota, Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old stay-at-home mother of three, was shot dead in her vehicle. Department of Homeland Security’s Secretary Kristi Noem said that Good was refusing to get out of the car and was trying to run over ICE officers in an act of “domestic terrorism” in an “attempt to kill."

This is, once again, a blatant lie. An ICE agent commanded Good to exit her vehicle, and when she did not, another agent shot her. There was no “attempt to kill” on Good’s part.

Noem claimed that the officer was “following his training." It is even more concerning that Noem is defending such an irrational display of violence. 

The evidence is filmed on camera, but our government assumes we are blind to the truth. The treatment we are getting from the people who should be upholding and protecting our basic rights is disgusting. A U.S. citizen lawfully carrying a gun was murdered for doing so. A U.S. citizen was murdered for attempting to flee from an ICE agent. Nothing about this is defendable.

It’s important to mention that ICE agents cover their faces and keep their identities hidden. They are also not required to wear body cameras on their vests. ICE agents are being protected, while we are not.

The whole idea of “consent of the governed” is a central principle to our Constitution. The people give our government power, so the elected will protect our inalienable rights and are under oath to do so. We do not give this power to them for them to then abuse it. The people who are supposed to protect us should not be the cause of our murder.

This goes beyond simple political affiliations. The divide between right and left is of no concern to ICE. Registered political party did not matter to them when killing Pretti or Good, not to mention their U.S. citizenship. Allegedly, this is of utmost importance to our government's administration.

How many more headlines do we need to see before we understand that our current administration does not care about us, the common people? Pretti and Good are only two examples, among six others who also died in dealings with ICE in 2026. Whatever we allow our government to do to others, they will eventually do to us. It will become a standard.

A 5-year-old boy, the son of his Ecuador-born father living in Minneapolis, was "used as bait" to detain his mother and father inside their home. ICE officials and Vice President JD Vance then claimed his father had "fled" from his son once he spotted ICE, a claim that was discredited by the boy’s elementary school officials.

Although the father and his son are not U.S. citizens, they have been going through the legal process to gain asylum. They have done everything right to gain citizenship, but ICE still chose to detain this child from his elementary school.

This boy was locked up in a prison in Dilley, Texas, with his dad. He was not the only child there either. About 400 kids have been detained in this facility for an extended period of time and are reported to be “malnourished and extremely ill.” The conditions in this jail are inhumane.

These are not criminals; these are innocent kids with families. Families like anyone else, like yours. These kids could not have possibly been at fault. That could be your child, cousin, your niece or nephew, your grandkid.

Not too long ago, President Donald Trump said about immigrants, “These aren’t people; these are animals.” It is absolutely inexcusable that our government is referring to actual living people as “animals,” a textbook display of dehumanization not unheard of from this administration.

Why? Because they were born in a different country? Because they have a different skin color? What difference does that make? 

The answer is that it doesn’t. Even if somebody was not born on U.S. soil or does not have citizenship, it doesn’t mean they lose their human rights. A little boy with a Spider-Man backpack does not deserve to be put in prison all because he isn’t white.

We should not be unconcerned with ICE’s crimes. No matter the background, citizen or not, ICE has overstepped their boundaries. We have innate rights that ICE has decided to disregard and are hardly in our best interest.

This goes beyond arresting criminals. Maybe ICE has an "interest" in finding criminals, but that's really not their focus. They're looking for people who look "different." They are murdering innocent civilians. Any American with a sense of morality should be for the abolishment, if not the imprisonment, of ICE agents. ICE’s presence legitimately threatens our human rights. This is not about right vs. left; it is about basic safety for the people of this country. And, yes, that includes documented and undocumented immigrants.