Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing
Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
The AFL-CIO is a federation of 64 affiliated unions representing more than 15 million workers across all sectors of our economy. Our members work in every state in the nation and they come from every region of the world. Like the workforce as a whole, our membership consists of people with all types of immigration status. Together, we strive to ensure that every person who works in this country receives decent pay, good benefits, safe working conditions, and fair treatment on the job.
Congress must act with urgency to rein in abusive immigration enforcement practices that have put the lives, livelihoods, and rights of all members of our unions, workforce and communities at unacceptable risk. To that end, we call for an immediate and complete ICE withdrawal from Minnesota and Congressional action to hold ICE accountable to the law and prevent further harm to working families, including the following:
RESCIND the irresponsible ICE funding in H.R. 1 and REBALANCE federal spending
● Restore DHS funding to reasonable levels and reallocate budget resources to fund urgent priorities that support rather than target working families.
● Enact the Sanders Amendment to reallocate ICE funds to Medicaid and/or the Healthcare Reinvestment Act (H.R. 7071).
END enforcement actions at sensitive locations
● Prohibit funding for immigration enforcement at sensitive locations, including schools, hospitals, places of worship, courthouses, polling stations, and demonstrations.
● Enact the Sensitive Locations Act (H.R. 1061 / S. 455).
END racial profiling stops, warrantless arrests and other due process violations
● Prohibit funding for unconstitutional immigration stops, arrests or detentions that are:
● Based on solely on a person’s race, ethnicity, language, accent, or type of work; or
● Conducted without a duly executed warrant.
END the arrest, detention or deportation of TPS holders, asylum seekers, refugees and those with deferred action or humanitarian parole
● Prohibit funding for the arrest, detention or deportation of anyone who has or had TPS or other forms of protected status prior to the Administration’s sweeping terminations.
● Enact the SECURE Act (S. 2106) and the Renewing Immigration Provisions Act (H.R. 4696/ S. 2468).
END DHS efforts to force local or state agencies to do the work of federal immigration enforcement
● Prohibit funding for new 287(g) agreements and any actions taken to retaliate against jurisdictions that refuse to enter such agreements.
● Enact the PROTECT Immigration Act (H.R. 6890).
END masking of immigration agents and require body cams
● Prohibit funding for payment to any DHS official who wears a mask or otherwise conceals their identity.
● Enact the Stop Excessive Force in Immigration Act (H.R. 5973).
END child and family detention, and prevent any new private detention contracts
● Prohibit funding for the detention of families and children under the age of 18 and the execution of any new immigration detention contracts or agreements and strengthen oversight of detention conditions.
● Enact the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act (H.R. 6397).
INVESTIGATE the use of force by federal officials and the growing list of deaths that have occurred as a result, including Renee Nicole Good and our union brother Alex Pretti
● Hold all responsible parties accountable, including DHS Secretary Noem and Advisor Miller.
● Demand full cooperation with state and local investigations into claims of excessive force, unlawful entry, false arrest, battery, etc. by federal agents.
After forty years of enforcement only immigration approaches, our nation is in dire need of a course correction. America’s unions renew, with urgency, our call for a broad path to citizenship and will pursue a concerted campaign to secure long-overdue protections for millions of valued members of our workforce, our communities and our unions.