Gallego, Homeland Security Democrats Call on Chairman Paul to Conduct Urgent Oversight of ICE and CBP Excessive Use of Force & Improper Actions

WASHINGTON – Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined Democrats on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in calling on Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) to conduct desperately needed oversight of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) escalating use of excessive force and other improper actions including the continued use of masked agents and unmarked cars as well as threats unrelated to immigration enforcement that appear intended to chill citizens’ protected First Amendment activities.  

In a letter, the senators point to increasingly violent actions by federal law enforcement officials, including the use of pepper balls against protestors exercising their First Amendment rights and the fatal shooting in Minneapolis of Renee Good, a U.S. citizen.

“The Department of Homeland Security has deployed an unprecedented number of federal agents throughout the country without appropriate coordination with state and local law enforcement. These federal agents have engaged in numerous operations involving excessive uses of force, including the fatal shooting of an American citizen in Minnesota just last week,” wrote the senators. “The Department, meanwhile, has completely neglected its responsibility to fairly and transparently investigate these federal agents’ actions. We urge you to conduct needed oversight of the Department.”

The senators also raise concerns about federal law enforcement officers’ tactics, such as officers conducting operations while masked, refusing to properly identify themselves, and DHS leadership’s complete failure to enforce appropriate conduct in their officers’ interactions with the public.  

The senators continued: “The fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minnesota followed numerous other enforcement actions across the country in which federal agents appear to have engaged in the excessive use of force, in some instances, against American citizens engaged in protected First Amendment activity. Federal agents from the Department fired a pepper ball into a pastor’s head during peaceful protests in Chicago, broke the ribs of a senior citizen in Los Angeles who was wrongfully detained, arrested an Army veteran and U.S. citizen during an immigration raid in California and jailed him for three days without charges, wrongfully detained a U.S. citizen at his workplace on two separate occasions and continued to hold him after he proved his citizenship, fired tear gas and pepper balls at journalists covering protests, and pulled individuals off the streets and into unmarked vehicles for engaging in lawfully protected speech.”  

Finally, the senators are also seeking to ensure Chairman Paul will engage in needed oversight of the Administration and DHS by securing information about how DHS has diverted essential resources away from other critical homeland security missions, including investigating sex crimes against children and terrorist financing.  

The senators continued: “Further, federal agents are conducting community raids while masked, refusing to properly identify themselves and, as a result, are sowing widespread fear in our communities. In fact, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) felt the need to urge agents to identify themselves as law enforcement officers and to cooperate with individuals who request further verification in light of criminals posing as U.S. immigration officers that have carried out robberies, kidnappings, and sexual assaults in several states.”  

The senators are calling for Chairman Paul to issue subpoenas if necessary and to hold a hearing with Administration officials, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, White House Border Czar Tom Homan, ICE Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director Todd M. Lyons, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney S. Scott, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks, and U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino to explain the Administration’s disregard for the law.

The full text of the letter can be found HERE.    

Last week, Senator Gallego introduced a bill to reform ICE by codifying a use of force policy, prohibiting masks, requiring identification, restricting use of crowd control equipment like flashbangs and tear gas, mandating use of body and vehicle cameras, and requiring investigations into all use of force incidents.