Representative Tran, Veterans in Congress Demand ICE and CBP Stand Down
Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Representative Derek Tran (CA-45) joined 14 fellow Veterans in Congress to call for a stand down of ICE and CBP interior operations following the second killing by federal agents of an American citizen in Minnesota.
Representative Tran, along with Representatives Ted Lieu (CA-36), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Gil Cisneros (CA-31), Herb Conaway (NJ-03), Jason Crow (CO-06), Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Maggie Goodlander (NH-02), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), Pat Ryan (NY-18), Bobby Scott (VA-03), Mike Thompson (CA-04), and Eugene Vindman (VA-07), issued the following statement:
“As veterans, we are outraged and horrified by the killing of a second civilian in Minneapolis by federal agents in less than three weeks. Border Patrol agents shot and killed 37-year-old American citizen Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at a VA hospital. Video footage and eyewitness accounts of this incident are deeply disturbing and raise serious questions about the use of force.
“This tragic killing comes on the heels of the fatal shooting of Renée Good earlier this month, and multiple other documented incidents of civil-rights abuses and excessive enforcement by ICE and CBP in Minnesota - demonstrating a pattern of misconduct that has fractured trust and terrified communities.
“In the military, when preventable deaths occur, leaders stand down operations to review/change policies, reassess missions, retrain personnel, and implement stronger safety protocols. The Department of Homeland Security must do no less. Our communities are less safe, and tensions have reached a boiling point.
“For these reasons, we call for an immediate stand down of ICE and CBP interior enforcement operations and demand the resignation of the Secretary of Homeland Security. Current leadership has failed to protect civil liberties, ensure accountability, or maintain the public trust.
“We also demand full, transparent, independent investigations into these deaths and abuses, and decisive steps to prevent further civilian killings at the hands of federal agents.”
Representative Tran continues to closely monitor ICE activity across LA and Orange Counties and has cosponsored legislation to place checks on ICE’s conduct, including:
- H.R. 4176, the No Secret Police Act, to prohibit ICE agents from wearing non-tactical face coverings while on duty;
- H.R. 5973, The Stop Excessive Force in Immigration Act, to scale back the level of force permissible in immigration operations;
- H.R. 3172, The ICE Visibility Act, to require agents to clearly identify themselves as such when interacting with the public;
- H.R. 5653, the Trust Through Transparency Act, to require all ICE officials to wear body cameras when interacting with the public in immigration enforcement operations.
Tran voted against H.R. 7147, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2026, which provides funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without necessary oversight reforms to ensure the agency operates according to common-sense legal boundaries – including preventing U.S. citizens from being detained or deported. On June 12, 2025, Representative Tran, alongside Representatives Gil Cisneros (CA-31) and George Whitesides (CA-27), sent a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding answers regarding the deployment of armed forces to Los Angeles. During a recent House Armed Services Committee hearing, Tran pressed Secretary Hegseth on the militarized response to domestic protests and lack of coordination with state and local law enforcement to keep those community members who are exercising their First Amendment rights safe. Tran, joined by Representatives Cisneros and Judy Chu (CA-28), also led a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons condemning the agencies for unlawfully denying their entry to the Adelanto ICE Processing Facility during a statutorily-protected oversight visit conducted on June 8, 2025.
Since taking office in January 2025, Tran’s office has opened over 230 cases to assist constituents related to the adjudication of their immigration status with federal agencies.
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Congressman Derek Tran represents California’s 45th Congressional District. Serving his first term in Congress, Congressman Tran is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and House Small Business Committee, where he is Ranking Member of the Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations Subcommittee. Congressman Tran is the son of Vietnamese refugees, a Veteran, and fought for consumers as an attorney before entering Congress.