Bennet Condemns Cruel DHS Policies on Senate Floor, Demands Accountability and Reform

Jan 30, 2026| Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet condemned the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) cruel and unconscionable policies on the Senate floor. This follows Bennet's release of new proposed legislation to impose guardrails and accountability measures for DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).

"All of us have read reports of people grabbed off the sidewalk and abandoned hours later, miles away, and every step along the way, Donald Trump's immigration troops have escalated tension on our streets, with total disregard for the rule of law, basic safety and their own accountability. These events would be terrible enough, but even as communities across the country have struggled to pick up the pieces left in their wake, we have been forced to contend with another injustice, an administration that has tried to convince us time and time again that what we have seen with our own eyes is not the truth," said Bennet on the Senate floor.

Bennet denounced the violence of DHS agents, and honored the life of Alex Pretti and his parents' request to "find the truth."

"Alex Pretti was killed by his own government, and then his government immediately began to lie about him and what had happened. He did not attack the agents. He did not threaten them, and at no point did he pull a gun in the video of that horrific scene, it's clear that an agent disarmed him before any shots were fired, multiple agents held him to the ground. Three of them beat him. No reasonable person would have believed he posed any threat to the agents or anyone else at the scene, but the agents still shot him," continued Bennet.

"What happened to Alex Pretti and the lies that followed was an assault on every one of us, on all of our children, on our sense of dignity and our innate understanding of right and wrong. Now is the time for my colleagues to come together and demand that we reassert these principles and demand the return of safety and security to insanity, to our government, rather than the chaos and destruction that we have recently seen, it's what all Americans expect, Mr. President, and it is what our country deserves," concluded Bennet.

Bennet has consistently fought the Trump Administration's punitive immigration policies. Bennet continues to call on Secretary Noem to resign. Earlier this week, Bennet announced he was working on legislation for commonsense reforms to DHS. He also introduced six amendments to the DHS FY26 appropriations bill that would protect children and families, bar enforcement at sensitive locations, and prohibit officers from wearing masks while requiring visible identification. In February 2025, Bennet joined his Senate colleagues to introduce the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, which would reinstate DHS's long-standing policies to prevent ICE from making arrests at sensitive locations like schools, hospitals, and places of worship. In August 2025, he joined the Immigration Enforcement Identification Safety (IEIS) Act to prohibit immigration enforcement officials from wearing masks and to require them to wear visible identification. In November 2025, Bennet joined his colleagues in introducing the bicameral Restoring Access to Detainees Act, legislation to ensure DHS allows noncitizens who have been detained to contact their legal counsel and families. Earlier this month, Bennet joined his colleagues in introducing the Providing Useful Budgets for Localities to Invest in Cops by Substituting Appropriations from Federal Enforcement To Yield Results (PUBLIC SAFETY) Act, legislation to redirect nearly $75 billion in funding passed in the Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)from ICE and send it instead to local law enforcement programs to help hire and train 200,000 local police officers in communities across the country.

Bennet's full remarks can be watched HERE.

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