Democratic leaders are demanding answers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alleging that the agencies are “wrongfully” detaining U.S. citizens during immigration raids and “terrorizing” communities across the country.
House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., along with Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., ranking member of the panel’s subcommittee on immigration, sent a letter on Monday questioning the reported arrests of U.S. citizens.
The letter, addressed to DHS Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, claimed that the agencies are in violation of ICE policy, which prohibits detaining U.S. citizens and requires an investigation into U.S. citizenship claims made by detainees.
Despite the policy, the letter alleged that DHS and ICE are continuing to “wrongfully detain” U.S. citizens, and “sometimes with violent force.”
The Democratic leaders’ letter cited reports from The New York Times and ProPublica of U.S. citizens reportedly being “dragged, tackled, beaten, tased, shot and detained, sometimes for days, during immigration enforcement raids.”
“This lawless ‘detain first, ask questions later’ approach to immigration enforcement is terrorizing communities across the country,” the letter declared. “Masked, armed agents are snatching people on the street and refusing to identify themselves. U.S. citizens are now afraid to speak Spanish in public and are carrying their passports everywhere they go.”
“This Administration’s failure to investigate or even acknowledge that these indiscriminate immigration raids are canceling the rights of U.S. citizens is dangerous,” the document continued.
In their letter, Raskin and Jayapal cited several cases of U.S. citizens they alleged were wrongfully targeted during immigration enforcement operations, such as Leonardo Garcia Venegas.
Venegas, an American citizen and construction worker in Alabama, was arrested twice during immigration raids earlier this year. Raskin and Jayapal claimed that agents refused to release Venegas, even after he produced his REAL ID.
In a DHS press release from earlier this month, the federal agency addressed Venegas’ case and several others that had received scrutiny from the media and politicians. The DHS denied the allegation that Venegas “was wrongfully detained for hours.”
Instead, the DHS claimed that the construction worker “attempted to obstruct and prevent the lawful arrest of an illegal alien” during a targeted worksite operation. Venegas reportedly placed himself between the agents and the illegal immigrant, refusing to comply with requests for him to move.
“Anyone who actively obstructs law enforcement in the performance of their sworn duties, including U.S. citizens, will of course face consequences which include arrest,” the DHS stated.
Another individual named in the Monday letter was George Retes, a U.S. citizen and veteran who was detained during a raid on a weed farm in California. The DHS also denied reports that it had detained Retes without cause.
“As U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and ICE agents were executing criminal search warrants on July 10 at the marijuana sites in Camarillo, CA, George Retes — a U.S. citizen — became violent and refused to comply with law enforcement,” the DHS stated. “He challenged agents and blocked their route by refusing to move his vehicle out of the road. CBP arrested Retes for assault.”
The Monday letter, a follow-up to Judiciary Democrats’ February letter, demanded that federal agencies provide a list of U.S. citizens detained since January, along with the length of their detention and the location.
The committee members also requested the criminal records, if any, of the detained individuals, as well as the names of each agency involved in the immigration enforcement operation.
All of this information must be provided no later than Nov. 3, according to the letter.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
