January 30, 2026

The Clinical Social Work Association (CSWA) is outraged by the killings of people by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the detention and deportation of many people who are legally residing in the United States, and by the indiscriminate attempts to violently suppress innocent people from legally protected, peaceful protests.

The language being used by this administration to demean and condemn persons of color has created an environment that threatens community safety, undermines public trust, and inflicts profound harm. This attitude cannot be detached from the brutality of killing our citizens of all backgrounds, as we have seen in Minnesota.

As clinical social workers, we know that secondary trauma hurts those who witness the trauma being inflicted directly on others. All of us who have witnessed the deaths of two Minnesotans and the injuries inflicted on many others are being traumatized, not only by the violence being inflicted, but by attempts to misrepresent the circumstances that have led to these acts.

Part of CSWA's mission is to represent, protect, and amplify the voices of clinical social workers as we strive to create a just, healthy, and inclusive society. One of our core values as social workers is social justice. CSWA encourages everyone to let their members of Congress know how the pain and suffering that ICE agents are causing hurts everyone with a simple message: ICE must follow the laws of this nation, which include not inflicting harm on law-abiding citizens. Find contact information for your US Senators here (https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm). Find your US Representative here (https://www.house.gov/representatives).