Duckworth Seeks to Force Independent Investigations of Trump Agents’ Use of Excessive and Deadly Force Against American Citizens

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After Trump’s lawless masked agents publicly and remorselessly executed another American citizen in broad daylight yesterday, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) tonight announced that she will seek to force the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) to deploy criminal investigators and other personnel to conduct transparent and independent investigations, in coordination with state law enforcement authorities, into the Trump Administration’s continuing and increasingly frequent use of excessive and even deadly force against our neighbors and loved ones through an amendment to the DHS Appropriations Act that the Senate will debate this week.

Duckworth’s amendment comes after DHS failed to secure the scene of the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti, an American citizen who served Veterans as an ICU nurse civil servant and sought to block state law enforcement from investigating the killing. Duckworth first called on the DHS and DOJ OIGs to investigate officer-involved use of force incidents 100 days ago, following a series of shockingly violent assaults and reckless shootings by Trump’s masked agents against American citizens in Illinois, and Duckworth reiterated and expanded her request following the brutal killing of Renee Good, an American citizen and mother of three. Shamefully, just days before Trump’s agents murdered Alex Pretti, the DHS and DOJ OIGs—both of whom Trump appointed—denied Duckworth’s request.

“Americans across the country have been watching in horror as ICE and Border Patrol agents have terrorized communities, targeted kids and daycare teachers, assaulted peaceful protestors and even publicly executed two U.S. citizens in broad daylight—and then lied about what happened to try and cover their asses,” said Duckworth. “This Administration has proven beyond a doubt that it cannot be trusted to conduct legitimate, unbiased investigations into the widespread excessive, and too often deadly, uses of force by its untrained, unhinged agents—which is why I’m going to do everything in my power to force investigations that are actually transparent and independent. The American people deserve nothing less than the truth.”

The Independent Investigations and Accountability Amendment would require, within 14 days of enactment, that the DHS OIG deploy investigators to conduct investigations into all use of force incidents that have occurred under the Trump Administration’s aggressive and reckless civil immigration and interior enforcement operations, including Operations Metro Surge and Midway Blitz.

“We desperately need real accountability for Trump’s agents’ deadly and lawless behavior,” continued Duckworth. “Too many communities have been harassed. Too many liberties have been trampled upon. Too many Americans have been murdered in the street. Enough. Since these watchdogs denied my request urging them to rise to the occasion and stick up for the American people in the face of unprecedented abuse at the hands of the federal government, I intend to force them to.”

To enforce the requirements of Duckworth’s amendment, failure to initiate investigations of prior use of force incidents within 14 days of enactment would result in the DHS IG not receiving pay, and if noncompliance continues to 30 days, DHS IG Cuffari would be terminated—and his acting successor would be subject to the same enforcement provisions.

Specifically, the amendment would require that:

1. DHS OIG would deploy teams of criminal investigators and other personnel to investigate all use of force incidents that have occurred since January 20, 2025, under immigration and interior enforcement operations and conduct timely independent investigations of any subsequent office involved use of force incidents that occur under these operations;
2. DHS OIG coordinate with other agency OIGs, including DOJ OIG, as necessary, given the degree to which the Trump administration has mandated that Federal law enforcement agencies abandon statutory mission activities to provide ICE with non-reimbursed support;
3. DHS OIG coordinate with State and local law enforcement agencies, including in sharing information and evidence that may be relevant to concurrent State and local law enforcement investigations into a Federal agents use of force;
4. DHS OIG publish the results of each independent investigation, addressing compliance with Federal law, regulation and agency policy; and in cases where investigations culminate in a referral for a criminal prosecution or civil penalty and adverse action, a justification for each referral.

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