Less than five months ago, the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti shocked the nation and ignited fierce debate about immigration enforcement in America. Their deaths raised difficult questions about the tactics being used by federal agents, the growing militarization of immigration operations, and the human consequences of policies carried out in the name of border security.
There were calls for investigations. There were demands for accountability. There were promises from lawmakers that lessons would be learned.
Today, those questions seem to have faded into the background.
Last week, the U.S. Senate approved legislation providing an additional $70 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The funding would be used to hire more agents, expand enforcement operations, increase deportations, and bolster border security infrastructure through the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term.
The legislation now heads to the House of Representatives.
The funding comes on top of the approximately $140 billion already allocated to immigration enforcement agencies under last year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” making it one of the largest investments in immigration enforcement in modern American history. Supporters argue that the funding is necessary to secure the border, enforce immigration laws, and address illegal migration.
Reasonable people can debate the best way to manage immigration, but before Congress writes another massive check, Americans should be asking a few simple questions: What has changed since Renee Good and Alex Pretti died? Where are the reforms? Where are the new safeguards? Where is the national conversation about accountability?
The issue is not whether immigration laws should be enforced. Every nation has the right to control its borders and determine who may enter and remain within its territory. The issue is whether enforcement can continue to expand without meaningful examination of the risks, consequences, and failures that have already occurred.
For months, lawmakers and advocates warned that aggressive immigration enforcement tactics could create dangerous situations for both communities and law enforcement officers. The deaths of Good and Pretti appeared to validate those concerns and briefly forced the country to confront uncomfortable realities.
Yet, Washington now seems prepared to move on.
The debate about the new funding bill focused largely on political disagreements over unrelated provisions and settlement funds. Far less attention was paid to how the expanded funding would affect enforcement operations on the ground or whether meaningful oversight mechanisms should accompany such a significant increase in resources.
That omission matters, because more money means more personnel. More personnel mean more operations and more operations mean more interactions between federal agents and the public. More interactions, thus, inevitably increase the importance of transparency, accountability, and public trust. Those principles should not be viewed as obstacles to enforcement. They are essential to it.
A government that exercises enormous enforcement power must also be willing to answer difficult questions when things go wrong. That is especially true when lives are lost.
Renee Good and Alex Pretti should not be remembered simply as names attached to a news cycle that has already passed. Their deaths should have prompted a serious examination of how immigration enforcement is conducted, what safeguards are needed, and how agencies can balance public safety with civil liberties. Instead, Congress appears poised to provide tens of billions of dollars in additional funding while many of those questions remain unanswered.
Perhaps lawmakers believe the answers are no longer necessary. The American public should disagree, because if tragedy leads only to larger budgets and not deeper reflection, then the lessons have not been learned.
If the country is unwilling to confront what happened after the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, then the question remains: Did they die in vain?
Felicia J. Persaud is the founder and publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, the only daily syndicated newswire and digital platform dedicated exclusively to Caribbean Diaspora and Black immigrant news across the Americas.
