Cruelty Is Not a Strategy

When we talk about this administration’s brutal immigration policies, the primary focus is often on the immediate human suffering: the families torn apart, the workers targeted, the asylum seekers turned away.

That suffering is real, it is horrifying, and our top priority should be to stop it. But there’s another truth we can’t ignore – and it’s that these policies don’t just harm immigrants. They fundamentally degrade life for everyone in America.

The Human Cost of Lawlessness

When a government agency is left to operate unchecked, it’s bound to cross the line.

Take the testimony of a teenager kept in ICE custody, for example. He described being put in solitary confinement for two days for no reason. He was subjected to strip searches and made to wear a tracking bracelet. He was even fed spoiled food that made him sick, threatened with violence, and cut off from communicating with his mother or brother.

For two months, this was that young man’s reality. And the disregard for human life doesn’t stop at detention walls.

Under Trump, ICE and DHS agents have been given free rein to operate without oversight. And as a result, multiple American citizens – including Renee Good and Alex Pretti – have been shot and killed.

When Law Enforcement Operates Without Guardrails, No One Is Safe

When the far right claims Trump’s immigration enforcement only affects undocumented immigrants, they are lying. Period.

Just look at this report from the ACLU on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo. Following this decision, ICE has basically had the green light to racially profile people, allowing masked agents in military gear to stop people based on accent, language, or appearance. And the impacts are catastrophic:

• According to a 2025 report from ProPublica, over 170 U.S. citizens have been detained by ICE in sweeps.

• Citizens are being kicked, dragged, tased, pepper-sprayed, and held incommunicado for days without access to a lawyer or their families.

• In Alabama, a U.S. citizen working in construction was tackled and detained by ICE not once but THREE TIMES – even after presenting a valid REAL ID.

• In California, a disabled military veteran was held for three days in jail after being caught in a sweep, despite having veteran decals on his car and telling officers he was a citizen.

When the government decides that your constitutional rights depend on how you look or speak, every American’s liberty is in danger.

Harming American Progress & Innovation

This cruelty also sabotages our local economies, our healthcare systems, and our future.

Look at what’s happening right here in Texas. Institutions like MD Anderson should be focused on recruiting the world’s brightest cancer researchers to pioneer lifesaving breakthroughs. Instead, Gov. Greg Abbott is letting extreme anti-immigrant politics get in the way of medical treatments, cures, and human lives by blocking immigrant researchers.

Cancer doesn’t care where a doctor or researcher was born. Texas families and families across the nation deserve every possible chance at a cure. And sabotaging world-class medical research to score cheap political points is actively hurting American lives.

Where We Go From Here

We cannot accept a country where citizens are forced to prove their status on demand, where children are placed in solitary confinement, and where constitutional protections are tossed aside.

My stance is clear: We must abolish ICE and build an immigration system rooted in humanity, accountability, and justice.

We need an immigration framework that secures our border responsibly while upholding basic human rights, protecting constitutional liberties, and reflecting on our values as a nation.

If you believe it’s time to end this cycle of cruelty and restore accountability, join me. Be one of 15,000 folks to sign my petition today to demand Congress ABOLISH ICE and their rampant abuses of power.

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Thank you.

– Colin

Colin Allred is a fourth-generation Texan who’s running to represent Texas’ 33rd District in Congress. He’s a former NFL player, voting rights lawyer, and public servant who’s in this to fight for the community that raised him and serve as a critical check on Trump’s harmful agenda. Colin doesn’t take a dime from corporate PACs, so he’s relying on grassroots support from folks like you to win. If you can, please chip in a donation to help Colin win in the general election and help Democrats reclaim their majority in the House come Election Day.

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