Senior House Democrats have inquired with the Trump administration about media reports that President Donald Trump’s deportation force detained U.S. citizens during its illegal immigrant arrest sweeps.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, announced Wednesday their effort to uncover facts following media reports that U.S. children and adults had been caught up in ICE arrests recently.
“We write to request more information about troubling reports that U.S. citizens have been detained during immigration enforcement operations,” Raskin and Jayapal wrote in a letter to the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.
“These reports raise serious questions about the actions of Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel when conducting
immigration enforcement,” the lawmakers continued.
NBC News reported last week about multiple incidents in which U.S. citizens on Native American reservations were detained by ICE agents while they moved in to arrest one or more illegal immigrants.
In another case, a child, mother, and grandmother in Milwaukee were detained and transported to an immigration detention center, according to Telemundo Puerto Rico.
Raskin and Jayapal asked that the DHS and ICE share further details about the wrongful detainments by Feb. 18, two weeks from the day the letter was sent.
On Tuesday, Jayapal and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) jointly introduced legislation to ensure that any U.S. citizen or person with legal permanent status can speak with an attorney, relative, or other interested party if detained by federal police at the border.
The Access to Counsel Act would ensure that people detained by Customs and Border Protection agents for more than an hour would be entitled to speak with an outside party.
“It is more important now than ever, under a second Trump Administration, that we codify the right to access counsel for detained persons who are legally allowed access to the United States,” Jayapal said in a statement. “As we continue to see him scapegoat immigrants, we must protect people from unjust detention.”
The Jayapal bill was originally put forward in 2017 following the ban that the Trump administration imposed on admitting citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, which Democrats dubbed the “Muslim ban.”
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The Trump administration justified the temporary ban on admitting travelers by citing insufficient screening and vetting of international travelers by their home countries.
The DHS did not respond to a request for comment. An ICE spokesperson did not deny the reports but pointed the Washington Examiner to a Sunday interview with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in which she said there is “nothing from this administration” that suggested anyone should have to carry around documentation about their immigration or citizenship status.
