Press Statement: Brandon Brown Condemns ICE Killing, Calls Agency ‘Modern-Day KKK’

An ICE agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis. She is dead because a federal law enforcement agency that has been allowed to operate without accountability, without restraint, and without moral limits continues to terrorize communities with impunity.

Let’s be clear: this was not an “incident.” This was not a “tragic mistake.” This was the predictable result of an agency that functions as a modern-day terror force.

I have said it before, and I will say it again even more plainly now: ICE operates like the KKK did in another era—masked, unaccountable, violent, and protected by political cowardice. The uniforms are different. The tactics are the same. Intimidation. Dehumanization. State-sanctioned violence. Death.

Federal officials are already lying to the public—claiming “self-defense,” smearing the victim, and rushing to justify the unjustifiable. We have seen this script before. When institutions are rotten, they always protect themselves first and tell the truth last. If ever.

This woman did not have to die. She died because politicians like Lindsey Graham have spent decades empowering the worst actors in our government while pretending to be defenders of law and order. There is no law and order in a system where armed agents can kill a woman in the street and expect immunity. That is not safety. That is authoritarianism.

South Carolinians should ask themselves a simple question:

If the federal government can do this to her today, who will they do it to tomorrow?

This moment does not call for “measured language.” It calls for moral clarity. ICE, as it exists today, must be dismantled and rebuilt. There must be independent investigations, prosecutions where warranted, and an end to the blank check Congress keeps writing for abuse.

I am running for the United States Senate because I refuse to be silent while state violence is normalized. I refuse to look away while people are killed and their deaths are explained away by press releases and propaganda.

Lindsey Graham will say nothing meaningful about this. He never does. He has made a career out of silence when courage is required.

I will not. Justice demands more. The American people deserve more.

And if Washington won’t change itself, we will replace the people who refuse to change it.

In solidarity,
Brandon Brown
U.S. Senate Candidate, South Carolina

This campaign doesn’t take corporate PAC money. It’s powered by people like you who still believe that truth matters, fairness matters, and democracy matters. Brandon Brown is running to build a South Carolina — and an America — where justice is blind, freedom is sacred, and every voice counts.