A new report from researchers at UC Berkeley shows that in the first nine months of the Trump administration, ICE arrests of people with zero criminal convictions increased sevenfold — making them the fastest-growing group targeted by immigration enforcement.
So let’s be clear about what’s happening: They are not going after criminals. They are not targeting the “worst of the worst.”
They are arresting people with families. Caregivers. Workers who pay taxes, keep entire industries running, and contribute to their communities every single day. Five-year-olds in little backpacks and fluffy hats.
And this isn’t just happening at the border. Deportations initiated inside the United States are up more than 4.5 times since Trump took office. ICE street arrests have surged more than elevenfold, using tactics that are increasingly aggressive, violent, and designed to instill terror in entire communities.
Once people are detained, the system is designed to keep them there. The Trump administration is illegally limiting access to bond, forcing people to choose between sitting in detention for months or giving up and self-deporting — even when they’re likely to win their cases.
At the same time, my Republican colleagues handed billions more dollars to ICE and CBP, tripling detention capacity even as border crossings declined.
And for some, there is no way out at all. This year alone, at least eight people have died in ICE custody or were killed by ICE agents or Border Patrol.
We know the names of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Six others were lost, too: Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, Víctor Manuel Díaz, Parady La, Luis Beltrán Yáñez–Cruz, and Heber Sánchez Domínguez.
They were fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, friends, workers, neighbors.
Some of these deaths were labeled “suicides,” despite autopsies raising serious questions.
Others — like the public killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were dismissed by this administration by calling them “terrorists.”
These deaths are not accidents. They are the predictable result of a system built on cruelty, secrecy, and dehumanization.
As San Diegans and as a nation of immigrants, we cannot accept this. We cannot look away while people are hunted, detained, and killed under the false banner of “public safety.”
Right now, Congress is negotiating a new DHS funding bill that could potentially hand even more money to ICE and Border Patrol.
I’ll vote NO on any bill that puts Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda ahead of basic humanity — but it’s critical that the rest of your elected officials hear from you ahead of any more votes.
Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and urge your senators to block additional DHS funding.
Every person deserves dignity. Every family deserves answers. And every life lost in ICE custody or at the hands of ICE or Border Patrol agents deserves justice.
—Sara
