Resolution in Support of Immigrant Communities Targeted by ICE

March 19, 2026
by Ellen Sato Faust, Executive Director

Introduction

Now is the time for the Japanese American community and our allies to make our collective voices heard in opposition to the enforcement tactics utilized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other federal immigration authorities (collectively referred to as “ICE”). We do not want our silence to be mistaken for complicity as ICE continues to deprive immigrants of due process and carry out detention, incarceration, and deportation practices that have targeted individuals based on nationality, race, ethnicity, language, family association, or perceived immigration status — including instances of U.S. citizens, veterans, and minor citizen children deported with non-citizen parents. We remember that Japanese Americans were unjustly singled out based on race during WWII and that no other group should suffer a similar fate.

Time for Action

The Japanese American community has a unique and compelling commitment to hold ICE accountable for abusive policing practices —particularly those involving incarceration, removal, or family separation—and ensuring they adhere to constitutional standards, specifically in the context of enforcing immigration law. Responding to the voices of our JACL colleagues who have asked us how they can stand up against the injustices we are witnessing, our goal is to demonstrate our strong support for immigrants unfairly targeted by race or nationality. We seek to affirm that protecting due process, equal protection, and meaningful democratic oversight is essential to the integrity of our United States democracy. During WWII, there was no widespread support among the American people to protest our families’ detention and incarceration. Bainbridge Island was an exception. Today we again have the opportunity—and the moral responsibility—to speak out.

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Resolution in Support of Immigrant Communities Targeted by ICE

WHEREAS, we remember that during World War II, over 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry—immigrants as well as United States citizens—were incarcerated for years without individualized charges, hearings, or meaningful due process under Executive Order 9066 and related authorities;

WHEREAS, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association (BIJAEMA) is committed to ensuring that the dangers associated with unchecked executive authority, racial profiling, militarized enforcement, collective suspicion, and the abdication of congressional oversight are not repeated against other innocent immigrant groups;

WHEREAS, BIJAEMA condemns enforcement practices of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other federal immigration authorities (collectively referred to as “ICE”) involving racial profiling, excessive or disproportionate use of force, lack of visible ICE identification, masked agents, inadequate detention conditions, and insufficient due process, transparency, and accountability;

WHEREAS, we seek to make our collective voices heard in opposition to unlawful ICE enforcement tactics, and we urge the nation to remember that Japanese Americans were unjustly singled out on the basis of race during World War II, a history that compels us to speak out so that no other group should suffer a similar fate.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:

BIJAEMA calls on the Congress of the United States to require ICE to:

  • Stop Routine Masking by prohibiting masked enforcement absent documented necessity to ensure officer safety in particular situations.
  • Require Officer Identification ensuring that whether or not masked, each officer wears visible identification and shows such identification on request to promote accountability.
  • Require Body Cameras to be used during all immigration enforcement operations.
  • Establish a National Use-of-Force Standard by creating a clear, enforceable standard governing the actions of ICE agents as well as state or local officers enforcing immigration law.
  • Provide Humane Detention Conditions by requiring independent inspections of all facilities, providing adequate medical and mental health care, eliminating family separation, ensuring public reporting of deaths and abuse, and enforcing protections against the mistreatment of detainees.
  • End Racial Profiling by prohibiting detention or searches based on race, ethnicity, national origin, language ability or accents, workplaces, or perceived immigration status.
  • End Unconstitutional Searches by prohibiting entry onto private property without a judicial warrant.
  • Protect Detainee Rights by ensuring due process with individualized judicial hearings, access to legal counsel, fair and transparent procedures, and freedom from arbitrary or prolonged detention; and, further, by requiring verification that a person is not a U.S. citizen before detaining them, and preserving meaningful legal avenues for individuals who have been unlawfully removed to challenge such actions, including lawful pathways to return to the U.S. when necessary to vindicate their constitutional and statutory rights.
  • End Qualified Immunity for ICE by ensuring civil and criminal accountability and enforcing civil rights laws with meaningful legal remedies for ICE violations of the Constitution as well as federal, state, and local statutes.
  • Strengthen Congressional Oversight by requiring public hearings, mandatory reporting, and transparent enforcement data.
  • Condition Funding on Accountability by refusing to fund initiatives that expand militarized enforcement or weaken constitutional safeguards, and by repealing current funding pending compliance with the aforementioned protections of fundamental rights.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that BIJAEMA calls upon its members to actively support these principles and impacted families and communities;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that BIJAEMA calls upon state and local officials to uphold the constitutional rights of all residents, ensure that local law enforcement practices comply with civil rights protections, and resist participation in practices that undermine due process, equal protection, and community trust; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, BIJAEMA declares that the legacy of discrimination against Japanese Americans based solely on race and nationality imposes a unique and continuing responsibility to guard against racialized law enforcement practices, unchecked executive power, and the erosion of constitutional protections. We believe that protecting constitutional rights and democratic oversight is essential to the integrity of American democracy.

Adopted this 19th day of March, 2026 by the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association Board of Directors.