Res. No. 391
Resolution calling on the United States House of Representatives to pass, the United States Senate to introduce and pass, and the President to sign H.R.7284, also known as the ICE OUT Act, to reform qualified immunity standards for officers and agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection engaged in law enforcement activities, and for other purposes
By Council Members Epstein and Louis
Whereas, Immigration enforcement under Trump’s second term has been aggressive, disturbing, and without common sense; and
Whereas, To fulfill their mass deportation agenda, the Trump Administration and its allies have increased the immigration enforcement workforce and funding significantly; and
Whereas, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has added over 12,000 new agents in less than a year; and
Whereas, Under Trump’s second term, ICE has become the highest-funded United States law enforcement agency, with an $85 billion budget; and
Whereas, However, despite an increase in funding and workforce, the agency has scaled back training hours for its recruits; and
Whereas, In testimony before Democrats in Congress, Ryan Schwank, a former ICE lawyer and training instructor, revealed ICE training is “deficient, defective, and broken” and recruits are being directed to violate the Constitution; and
Whereas, A recent analysis from CNN found that ICE officers receive significantly less training than almost any other federal officer; and
Whereas, In a statement to CNN a former ICE recruit instructor noted that “they’re not being adequately trained for what they’re being tasked with”; and
Whereas, In a commentary from the Brookings Institution, the authors noted that ICE expansion has outpaced accountability; and
Whereas, American Immigration Council posted a similar notion in their article “How ICE Went Rogue” noting that agents are “routinely going far beyond what the law allows them to do. Their aggressive tactics on the ground are backed up by unprecedented interpretations of their legal authorities, with the agencies secretly adopting aggressive new policies toward entering homes and making arrests without judicial warrants”; and
Whereas, Since the beginning of Trump’s second term, ICE has been documented using excessive force, arresting and detaining United States (U.S.) citizens, and taking actions that seemingly violate constitutional protections; and
Whereas, ICE has made sweeping and violent arrests in courthouses taking immigrants with pending asylum cases and future court dates, ICE has been following an internal policy that says their officers do not require judicial warrants to enter someone’s home, and ICE has engaged in increasingly aggressive activity, such as smashing windows of cars and dragging out the drivers; and
Whereas, ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have also been documented firing their weapons at bystanders, with two cases in Minnesota resulting in the deaths of Reneé Good and Alex Pretti; and
Whereas, Although the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been quick to claim these shootings to be justified and officers as acting appropriately, video evidence after the fact has shown officers acting irrationally and violently; and
Whereas, Cases of officers misrepresenting themselves or violently entering homes without judicial warrants have been seen across New York City; and
Whereas, According to a pending habeas complaint for Hayk Safaryan, a Brooklyn resident and Armenian immigrant, federal immigration authorities stormed into his home without a judicial warrant or consent to detain him; and
Whereas, In East Elmhurst, a woman named Jennifer and her four children were at home when federal agents burst inside their apartment without a warrant and without identifying themselves to look for someone who did not live at the residence; and
Whereas, The agents pointed guns at her and her children, dragged Jennifer outside by her hair, questioned the family for an hour, and left without taking anyone; and
Whereas, According to Columbia University, ICE entered their premises on false pretenses to detain a student, allegedly posing as police searching for a missing child; and
Whereas, The tactics and violence used by federal immigration authorities is deeply disturbing and must be addressed; and
Whereas, H.R.7284 introduced by U.S. House Representative Dan Goldman and pending in the U.S. House of Representatives, seeks to reform qualified immunity standards for officers and agents of ICE or CBP engaged in law enforcement activities, and for other purposes; and
Whereas, H.R.7284, also known as the ICE OUT Act, would amend Section 1979 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1983) to make immunity defense claims unavailable to ICE or CBP officers and agents if the facts alleged by a plaintiff would constitute excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment; and
Whereas, Americans in cities across the U.S., including New York City, have protested federal immigration enforcement activity and brought attention to the devastation caused by ICE and CBP actions to communities and families; and
Whereas, The Trump Administration continues to suggest that their agents are operating accordingly and the impunity with which federal immigration agents are acting have traumatizing results; and
Whereas, The ICE OUT Act would enable some accountability against agents that act in violation of Fourth Amendment rights and could provide some justice to those harmed by federal immigration actions; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the United States House of Representatives to pass, the United States Senate to introduce and pass, and the President to sign H.R.7284, also known as the ICE OUT Act, to reform qualified immunity standards for officers and agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection engaged in law enforcement activities, and for other purposes.
LS #21829
03/12/2026
RLB