Calling on the Department of Homeland Security to Reform Immigration Enforcement Action Procedures and on Residents Exercising their First Amendment Rights to Engage in Legal and Nonviolent Protest
Adopted at the Winter Leadership Meeting: Executive Committee in 2026
WHEREAS, on January 22, 2026, The United States Conference of Mayors and the Major Cities Chiefs Association issued a joint statement that concluded: The mayors and police chiefs of the United States urge all federal law enforcement agencies to model the professionalism and care that we expect from our local law enforcement agencies. We recognize that some situations can escalate, but we urge federal law enforcement leaders to insist upon calm, professionalism, and de-escalation from their officers at all times. Similarly, we call on all residents exercising their First Amendment rights to pursue legal and non-violent protest. Regardless of the views or intentions of those engaging in protest activity, we do not condone protest actions that are violent, destroy property, obstruct law enforcement, or are intended to incite such behavior. We ask for civil discourse and for our residents who desire policy change to pursue it through the legal and political methods afforded us. Fundamentally, America’s mayors and police chiefs call for peace, de-escalation, calm and professionalism. We demand nothing less from ourselves, and all Americans should demand the same from our federal officials and our fellow residents; and
WHEREAS, consistent with this statement and existing U.S. Conference of Mayors policy, it is the position of America’s mayors that federal agents under the jurisdiction of ICE and other agencies should model the professionalism and care that we expect from our own local law enforcement agencies and balance compassion with security and efficiency,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the Department of Homeland Security to immediately require ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies to:
- Cease the use of masks;
- Regulate and standardize the type of uniforms and equipment DHS officers employ during enforcement operations to bring them in line with civil enforcement;
- Always visibly display their agency, ID number and last name on their uniforms;
- Use body-worn and vehicle cameras when interacting with the public and require the storage and access of recorded footage;
- Cease the use of stops, questioning and searches based merely on an individual’s presence at certain locations, their job, their spoken language and accent or their race and ethnicity;
- Reinstate ICE’s sensitive locations policy to prohibit immigration actions at schools, hospitals, institutions of worship, courts, polling locations on election day, and other such locations;
- Always obtain and present a judicial warrant before entering publicly owned facilities or private property to pursue individuals, thus helping to end indiscriminate arrests; and
- Adopt an objectively reasonable use of force policy that permits force only when necessary to further a legitimate law enforcement objective, and is proportional to any resistance;
- Expand agent training in the use of force policy;
- Expand agent training of new recruits to be in line with the training recruits receive at local police academies throughout the country;
- Preserve the ability of state and local jurisdictions to investigate and prosecute potential crimes and use of excessive force incidents and require that evidence is preserved and shared with jurisdictions;
- Assure all those detained have access to legal assistance required by law;
- Require all buildings where people are detained to meet local health and safety standards; and
- Obtain appropriate local zoning and building permit approvals to convert warehouses and other buildings to detention or deportation facilities.