Public opinion shifts on ICE as advocates warn of US ‘inflection point’
Al Jazeera
Amid growing unrest in wake of Minnesota killing, rights observers say US Congress must take action to curtail agency.
Washington, DC – Advocates have called on US lawmakers to seize on the tanking public approval of President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement drive as outrage continues to grow over the killing of a United States citizen by an immigration agent in Minnesota.
During a news conference on Wednesday, several immigration experts said lawmakers have a unique opportunity to enact reforms as opinion has turned on Trump’s mass deportation pledges, an issue that helped carry the president to his second term during the 2024 election.
The events in Minnesota, they said, have underscored a grim future of unchecked US immigration enforcement, particularly in light of last year’s massive infusion of cash into the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
“I think we are really at an inflection point here,” said Kate Voigt, the senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
“We’ve seen a swell of grassroots actions over the past few weeks. More and more people are seeing that ICE is dangerous, violent, operating with impunity. More and more people are angry, scared, motivated, and more and more people are looking to their members of Congress for action.”
A divide over whether dual citizens should be allowed to contest is threatening Bangladesh’s February elections.
Young people, who make up 44 percent of voters, ousted Hasina. But they’ve never seen a competitive election, until now.
Nordic country dispatches ‘substantial contribution’ of troops to the Arctic territory amid standoff with Washington.
Aid cuts, conflict and economic collapse push millions of Yemenis towards severe hunger in 2026.
Dozens of people wounded in the crash in Cordoba province.
European countries targeted by Trump’s latest tariffs say they are united on ‘upholding our sovereignty’.
Authorities have deployed mobile intensive care units to the crash site near Adamuz, where 25 people are injured.
More than 200,000 people in the Russian-occupied part of Zaporizhia are without power after a Ukrainian strike.
Syria’s army accelerates its campaign, securing key infrastructure and forcing Kurdish-led SDF retreat.
The country’s supreme leader says foreign-backed protests ‘caused massive damage and killed several thousands’.
US president says eight countries to face tariffs over opposition to US control of semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Copenhagen rally organiser says ‘world must wake up’ as Donald Trump threatens to seize self-governing Danish island.
Museveni, 81, secured 71.65 percent support, electoral commission says, after contentious election campaign.