*Content warning for discussion of state violence and murder and racial profiling.*


As Co-Executive Directors of Positive Women’s Network–USA (PWN-USA), an organization rooted in the dignity, safety, and rights of all people, especially those living with HIV and other marginalized communities, we are outraged by the ongoing militarized occupation of Minnesota and other cities across the United States. Federal agents have killed legal observers Renee Good and Alex Pretti, broken into homes, kidnapped community members, and unleashed tear gas on protestors and families. There has been an increase in racial profiling and state-sanctioned violence against BIPOC communities, and a growing number of people facing abuse, torture, and death while in immigration detention. 

This past year, we have seen the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has terrorized communities and in recent weeks, multiple fatal and violent actions by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents, including those from ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents, have devastated communities that have never been protected by law enforcement, and have long been targeted by state violence. Nearly 2,000 federal agents have been deployed in Minnesota in a massive, ongoing operation, resulting in over 3,000 arrests since December 2025. These actions do not only raise questions about accountability, due process, and human rights, they also expose the federal government’s ongoing willingness to violate them. For those detained, the situation is critical. Studies indicate high rates of abuse, harassment, and medical neglect, including the denial of HIV medications and access to treatment, within the medical centers.

Fear of enforcement does not stop at immigration status. It worsens health outcomes, impacts the quality of lives for people living with HIV, and costs lives. Federal immigration enforcement violence is a public health crisis. Raids, surveillance, and militarized tactics destabilize families, interrupt medical care, increase trauma, and deter people from seeking HIV testing, treatment, and emergency services. 

This moment demands not only outrage, but action. We call for ICE to be abolished. ICE is a racist, rogue agency that is already operating lawlessly. They cannot be reined in with reporting requirements, body cameras, or other tepid reforms. Nothing short of abolition will keep our people safe!

While working to abolish ICE, the federal government must create oversight, accountability, and transparency mechanisms that curb immigration enforcement abuse, overreach, and deadly force, including:

  • Vote no on any additional Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding to pay for Trump’s deadly immigration detention, deportation, and disappearance machine. Instead, Congress should support legislation to claw back the DHS slush fund created by the Big Ugly Murder Bill last year.
  • Strengthen restrictions on ICE and Border Patrol’s ability to conduct dragnet arrest operations and target people based on their race, language or accent, place of employment, or location at the time of the apprehension.
  • Prohibit agents from concealing their faces, including by wearing non-medical face coverings, and require that ICE agents visibly display their badges.
  • End the occupation of our cities and reject its ever-expanding mandate in immigration enforcement.
  • Defend the First Amendment and protect the right to protest. 

PWN stands unwaveringly for justice, human dignity, and the right of all people to live free from fear, regardless of immigration status. We will continue to raise our voices for policies that protect the lives of our community, uphold civil rights, and affirm our shared humanity.

How You Can Help

In solidarity,

Marnina Miller & Evany Turk,
Co-Executive Directors, Positive Women’s Network-USA