The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence (NTF) comprises national, tribal, state, and local organizations and advocates who work on behalf of survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Many of us are also survivors of such violence. We are horrified by the killings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good, as well all as the countless other deaths at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents that have not received nationwide attention such as Keith Porter (killed by an off duty ICE officer in Los Angeles), Geraldo Lunas Campos (whose death in detention was officially classified as a homicide), and many others.
We are outraged by the escalation of criminal violence that immigration enforcement officers have wrought upon our neighbors and communities across the country and the inhumane treatment of those they detain, including U.S. citizens, pregnant women, and children who are denied urgently needed medical care and served rotten food and rancid water.
We are asking all members of Congress not to provide additional funding to ICE and CBP until there has been full transparency and accountability for their actions and the violence, abuses, and killings in American communities and in immigration detention centers stop.
Immigrant survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, human trafficking, and other crimes have always faced unique barriers to seeking and receiving support. Longstanding system barriers–including inadequate language access, structural isolation, and scarce community- specific services and resources–have made it persistently difficult for immigrant survivors to obtain safety and support. The current climate of militarized immigration enforcement has driven immigrant survivors deeper into the shadows making them, and all of our communities, less safe. Today, immigrant survivors are far less likely to reach out to local law enforcement to report crimes and get help for fear that doing so could result in their own violent arrest, detention, and deportation. This chilling effect not only endangers survivors but also erodes community trust in systems designed to offer protection–undermining overall public safety for everyone.
Killings perpetrated by ICE and CBP and their attacks on our communities do not represent legitimate actions of professional federal law enforcement agents. These tragic and unnecessary executions and violent tactics have shocked the American conscience and are the result of an unrestrained and unaccountable immigration enforcement apparatus with leadership priorities driven by political retribution and anti-immigrant ideology.
What we are seeing is a manifestation of what those of us in the movement to end gender-based violence witness every day–people with power using lethal violence to reinforce their desire for control. Many across our country have watched these deaths unfold, and now the threat of violence looms over us all, as armed agents of our government who claim to be protecting us from harm are the ones killing us. Survivors understand this dynamic all too well, living in fear that any perception that they have stepped out of line or are not sufficiently deferential could result in violence or even death.
The final moments of both Alex Pretti and Renée Good mirror broader patterns seen in the gender-based violence field. Alex Pretti was killed while trying to protect a woman from physical harm; Renée Good’s last words as she tried to follow the instructions being shouted at her were, “I’m not mad at you”--a desperate and hauntingly familiar attempt to de-escalate an aggressor, a response many survivors recognize as a survival strategy in moments of danger. Her killer’s last words echoed the kind of verbal abuse many women and survivors have endured in their lifetimes.
The federal government’s response followed a familiar pattern known as DARVO—Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender. DARVO occurs when a perpetrator denies wrongdoing, attacks the credibility of the victim, and reframes themselves as the victim. After Renée Good was shot and killed, the Administration accused her of running an ICE agent over with her car. This was not true. After an ICE agent killed Alex Pretti, the Administration accused him of brandishing a firearm with the intent of causing “maximum damage” to law enforcement. Again, this was not true. Rather than acknowledge documented evidence and pursue accountability, officials denied wrongdoing, attacked the credibility of those killed, and advanced narratives that reframed perpetrators as victims. This pattern not only distorts the truth but deepens harm in communities already struggling to trust the systems meant to protect them.
When we cannot trust that law enforcement officers will follow the law, and we cannot trust the federal government to hold bad actors accountable, the system is broken. Just as we insist on accountability from individuals who cause harm, we must demand the same standard from the institutions entrusted with public safety. When the system is broken, Congress must use its power of the purse to send an unequivocal message that the Administration must take immediate, concrete, and meaningful steps toward accountability and reform.
Congress must not provide additional funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol until there has been full transparency and accountability for their actions and the violence, abuses, and killings in American communities and in immigration detention centers stop.
At the same time, we urge Congress to move forward this week with the remaining five FY 26 spending bills to avoid major impacts on local programs which provide survivor services and prevention programming.
We can have a functioning, legal, and humane immigration system without the threat of lethal violence, and we must–because everyone in this country deserves to live in a safe community where people are treated with dignity and harm-doers are held accountable.