(Washington)--While the nation grapples with the horror of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) murders in Maine and Texas last week, and amidst the deadliest fiscal year in ICE’s history, Detention Watch Network, Immigrant Defense Project, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, and Bend the Arc are launching End The ICE Age, a new campaign calling on Members of Congress to shut down ICE detention centers, stop detention expansion, cut funding for ICE, and get ICE out of communities.
The evidence against ICE is indisputable. As evidenced just last week with the horrific killings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastián Guerrero, ICE kills people and threatens community safety across the country. No one is safe when ICE is present – whether on the streets or in one of the agency’s more than 200 abuse-ridden detention facilities where people are dying at record rates.
The American public is clear on this: End The ICE Age. Yet, ICE is operating the largest federal law enforcement agency in the U.S. with the largest immigrant detention system in the world due to unprecedented funding at a cost to all Americans. Hastily created just two decades ago, ICE is not necessary nor is its existence a forgone conclusion.
The campaign is calling on members of Congress to pass the Melt ICE Act (H.R. 7190), introduced by Congresswoman Ramirez and Yvette Clark in January 2026. The Bill would end the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) authority and funding to detain and monitor immigrants, disrupt immigration enforcement, and redirect ICE funding back to communities.
Nationwide, people are demanding no more abuse and death at the hands of ICE and no more ICE funding while people lose health care, struggle to pay rent, and kids go hungry. “We demand an end to the ICE Age.”
On Saturday July 25, people across the country are coming together for hundreds of vigils organized by Disappeared in America to honor Lorenzo, Johan, and all lives taken by ICE.
At a press conference this morning launching the End the ICE Age campaign, members of Congress and advocates made the following remarks:
Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03) said:
"DHS REMAINS the biggest threat to our collective safety. PERIOD. Americans are demanding members of Congress pursue more than training, more than reform, and more than bare-minimum policies. They are demanding that no other family suffers the pain of deportation or death at the hands of DHS's immigration enforcement. Today, we are saying it is time to Melt ICE and END the ICE AGE. Every single Democrat who is saying that it's unacceptable that DHS is terrorizing our communities must act and become a cosponsor of my H.R. 7190, The Melt ICE Act, to end detention, disrupt immigration enforcement, and redirect funding back to communities for services."
Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07) said:
"The ICE-related deaths we've seen in recent weeks are heartbreaking and unacceptable. They reflect a pattern of abuse, misinformation, and a complete lack of accountability that has put lives at risk for far too long. Time and again, ICE has shown time and again that it cannot be reformed. We need real action by passing the Melt ICE Act, ending our reliance on detention, dismantling ICE, and building an immigration system rooted in dignity, justice, and respect for human rights."
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) said:
“ICE agents are murdering people in the streets, tearing families apart, abducting our neighbors, and locking them in cages. ICE must be abolished – full stop. The billions of dollars that funded ICE should be given to the communities who suffered under their reign of terror. The Melt ICE Act, which I cosponsor, redirects funds toward housing, healthcare, and community organizations serving our immigrant neighbors.”
Sonimar, sister to Jesus Manuel Arenas-Silva, 45, who died in ICE custody on July 13 while being transferred from the Irwin Detention Center to the Folkston Detention Center in Georgia, said:
“On July 9th, ICE came to my house and took my brother, Jesus Manuel away, leaving my family shocked and traumatized. We implored ICE not to take him due to his medical needs, but they didn't listen to our pleas. They also ignored our request to at least allow him to take his medication with him, allowing only one medication of four to be taken. Jesus Manuel later told me on a phone call that ICE did not give him the medication he needed. He went without medication during his detention until he tragically died in ICE custody on July 13. We demand justice for Jesus Manuel and an independent investigation into his death. I am 100% certain that he did not receive proper care. My brother, Jesus Manuel, was 45. He was a loving son, brother, and uncle, a caring and hard-working man who came to this country to seek better opportunities. I deeply mourn his passing in such a cruel manner; that is why I will seek justice for him and for everyone else who goes through this, so that other families do not have to endure what we are going through. No one deserves this.”
Sameera Hafiz, Policy Director, Immigrant Legal Resource Center said:
“Communities around the country are fed up - enough is enough! We must End the ICE Age now. Since Congress has turboboosted ICE through billions and billions of dollars of appropriations, our communities have become even less safe from racial profiling, abusive and discriminatory policing and the destabilization of our families caused by detention and deportation. We call on Congress to protect our neighbors and families from deadly ICE armed patrols terrorizing our streets and to end immigration detention in California, Texas and around the country. Stand with us as we demand justice and the ability of our communities to thrive.”
Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director, Detention Watch Network said:
“ICE kills people, separates families, and threatens community safety across the country - full stop. No one is safe when ICE is present – whether on the streets or in one of the agency’s more than 200 abuse-ridden detention facilities. People are dying in ICE detention at a record-breaking rate, ICE agents are tearing families apart and shooting people on the streets, making people less safe, and causing chaos wherever they go — whether in Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Biddeford, or beyond. Make no mistake, we are witnessing a watershed moment. No more abuse and death at the hands of ICE and no more ICE funding while people lose health care, struggle to pay rent and kids go hungry. We demand an end to the ICE age.”
Benita Jain, Senior Advisor & Federal Policy Counsel, Immigrant Defense Project said:
“ICE is a deadly agency that tramples the rights of all of us. In addition to its own agents terrorizing communities, ICE enlists or coerces local agencies to racially profile and detain people - often illegally - to boost numbers for its mass deportation agenda. Americans don't want ICE on our streets murdering our neighbors, we don't want our loved ones disappeared and locked up in deplorable ICE prisons, and we won't stand for hundreds of billions of our tax dollars being diverted to fund this system of terror. Everyone deserves dignity and due process. It's time to end the ICE Age.”
Eli Williams-Szenes, Director of Advocacy and Political Affairs, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action said:
“There is a degree of human suffering so extreme that it is unjustifiable, no matter what rules a society claims to follow. What is being done by ICE in our name is an unholy rupture of that order, and we cannot look away or stand idly by while our neighbors bleed. American Jews do not want ICE on our streets, abducting and murdering our neighbors, and this rogue agency proved a long time ago it is beyond reform. It’s time to close down the detention centers, abolish and dismantle ICE, and redirect its funding to programs that sustain life and dignity instead of trampling on them.”