Cities across US wary of coming ICE age

'Exercise your rights'

In 2025, at least 32 people died in ICE custody, making it the highest death toll in over two decades, data from ICE, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, American Civil Liberties Union, American Oversight and Physicians for Human Rights shows.

Genry Ruiz Guillen, 29, of Honduras, died in a hospital in Hialeah, Florida after being detained by ICE. The construction worker arrived in the US in 2023. Guillen's mother told Univision: "I never thought my son would come to this country to die like this, nor did I ever think I would receive that news."

Eight people have died dealing with federal agents or in ICE custody in 2026.

Fox said a federal agent who kills someone can face criminal liability if the US Department of Justice prosecutes them. Statute 18 USC section 242 (Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law) is designed explicitly for those types of prosecutions where government officials acting under color or state law violate someone's rights, he said.

But Fox added: "You can rest assured that the Trump administration will not be prosecuting them. So, then the next question is, will the state prosecute them? Well, it's clear they want to, but there's a number of hurdles."

Under civil litigation, ICE agents, like police officers, get qualified immunity unless they violate established constitutional rights.

For this reason, the killings of both Good and Pretti have sparked a massive backlash. On Jan 31, thousands took to the streets for anti-ICE protests in major cities including New York, Los Angeles and Minneapolis.

On Jan 26, at least 80,000 people from around the country joined a call on how to observe ICE in a lawful way, The Guardian reported.

Residents, especially in and around Minneapolis, remain undeterred about using their cellphones, like Pretti, to video federal agents.

Cuccia said: "What we're telling people is that you have your rights and you have to exercise those rights.

"So, number one, is, keep your phones out because you have the absolute right to video, to tape, record, to record everything that's going on. Second, people have the right to remain silent … And we tell people to peaceably exercise their rights."