Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)
At the invitation of Congresswoman Omar, Congresswoman Pressley is in Minneapolis to meet with organizers and community members impacted by ICE’s violent operation in Minnesota, where they have murdered bystanders, terrorized schools and small businesses, and abducted children and parents. On Wednesday, the lawmakers toured Karmel Mall, a hub holding over 100 small businesses and community organizations, many of which have reported a significant decline in business since Trump’s Operation Metro Surge began.
A transcript of Congresswoman Pressley’s remarks at the press conference is available below, and the video is available here.
Transcript: In Minneapolis, Pressley, Omar Condemn ICE Violence, Renews Calls to Abolish Rogue Agency
Minneapolis, MN
January 28, 2026
Thank you, Ilhan. Earlier today, we visited the sacred space where Alex Pretti was executed in broad daylight, an unarmed citizen whose last words were “don’t hurt her.”
One of the many tributes that was at that memorial in both scripture that I love as a woman of faith, and it’s Isaiah, Chapter 1 Verse 17, “do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed.”
And that is what brings me here today. Do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed.
I’m here as a sister in solidarity with Congresswoman Omar, I’m so grateful for her courageous and steadfast leadership. I’m here in solidarity with movement family, who I have been here many times, shoulder to shoulder, doing justice work alongside.
I am here to bear witness, I’m here to listen, and I’m here to help people process their grief and their trauma.
You know, we all understand that elections have consequences, but for the life of me, what I cannot understand is that when someone has a House, a Senate majority, has the White House and accomplices in the Supreme Court, why when you have all of that power, you would use it to enact harm on every person who calls this country home.
We have an occupant in the Oval Office who traffics and hate, is hell bent on inflicting hurt and harm and trauma on everyone who calls this country home, with a laser focus on our most vulnerable.
He has governed malice and used ICE agents to terrorize our cities, rip families apart, operating with impunity.
Rogue masked agents who violate people’s rights in the name of so called “law and order,” yet they detain, deport and kill our neighbors in cold blood, without due process.
To be clear, none of it has kept anyone safe because it has nothing to do with public safety, not in Minnesota, not in Massachusetts. It has everything to do with power, with control, with intimidation and oppression.
Earlier today, I met immigrants who make this country great, who make this state great, who fled authoritarian regimes in Colombia, Venezuela, Syria and Nicaragua. They came here for a better life and to make positive contributions, which they do, and they are so traumatized to be seeing in real time, the very authoritarian, fascist and cruel actions that they fled, showing up here in Minnesota and in this country.
All this has done is traumatize children, delay cancer patients chemotherapy, devastate small businesses and leave beloved community members like Renee Good and Alex Pretti dead on our streets.
The last time I was here at Karmel Mall, we broke bread together amongst bustling shoppers. It was vibrant and we laughed over sambuusas and drank Somali tea together.
Today, it is quiet. Today, it is quiet. It is quiet because of fear.
When we were at Midtown global market earlier today, we learned that Lake Street holds some 2,000 businesses, majority of which are owned by immigrants, that they are losing $30 million a month. Those are the sort of contributions that immigrants have been making to this economy.
[adjusts microphone]
So the point is this is devastating families and devastating the economy here.
That’s why we’re here today to stand in community, to choose community over chaos and cruelty.
We’re here because, although there can never be justice, because true justice would mean that Renee Good and Alex Pretti and Keith Porter would still be alive, but there must be accountability.
Listen, I’m the granddaughter of a Baptist preacher, I have no problem projecting.
Can you all hear me? Okay, okay. So if you want to have church, we will have church.
And I mean real church, not people who speak with a mouthful of scriptures, but walk with a heart full of hate.
You know, it has been incredible to be here in community today with people who are every day choosing community over chaos and over cruelty. People who are fighting in defense of the true values of this country and in defense of our neighbors.
This moment requires accountability.
This week, the Senate will take up legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which includes an additional $28 billion for ICE.
We are calling on all senators, Democrat and Republican, to vote no, because Congress should not be funding this campaign of terror.
And we can’t stop there.
The agents who brutalized and executed our neighbors cannot walk away freely. They must be held accountable for their crimes.
That means passing my bill to end qualified immunity for federal law enforcement, including ICE agents.
And it means impeaching Kristi Noem, who is as incompetent as she is dangerous. She is a dangerous cocktail of authority, bigotry and incompetence, and she must be impeached.
We need to abolish ICE and dismantle the systems of oppression that have gotten us to this point.
So again, I thank my sister in service for her courageous leadership, for the invitation to return to Minnesota once again to stand shoulder to shoulder with my movement family, to do right, to seek justice and to defend the oppressed.
Finally, I will say this: Donald Trump is a dictator, and the only way to beat a dictator is with defiance.
I thank the people of Minnesota for your defiance in this moment, and I’m here as your sister in solidarity.
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This month, following the ICE murder of Renee Good, Congresswoman Pressley and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the Qualified Immunity Abolition Act of 2026, which builds on the lawmakers’ prior work by granting victims the right to sue federal law enforcement officers—not just state and local—for civil rights violations and abolishing the defense of qualified immunity in these suits. The expanded legislation would help deliver accountability for families abused by law enforcement, including ICE agents.
Congresswoman Pressley delivered a floor speech on the need to end qualified immunity for federal law enforcement, including immigration officers. Watch the floor speech here.
Earlier this month, Congresswoman Pressley condemned the ICE murder of Renee Good in Minnesota and motioned to subpoena all records and footage related to the shooting, but Republicans obstructed it. Footage of Congresswoman Pressley’s motion to subpoena is here.
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