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After a ProPublica article found that more than 170 Americans have been detained by immigration agents this year, Democrats in the House and Senate announced plans to conduct a broader investigation into the detention of citizens by immigration agents.
Minority leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said their joint investigation into the detention of American citizens and other allegations of misconduct by immigration officials will include a hearing in Los Angeles.
“More than 170 American citizens have been arrested. Why? Because they look like me. Because they’re Latino. Or because they’re suspected of not being a U.S. citizen, or because they’re suspected of crimes they didn’t commit,” California Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House committee, said Monday at a news conference with Mayor Karen Bass in Los Angeles.
Garcia said investigators are requesting all records and documents showing how U.S. citizens are treated by immigration authorities in Los Angeles and across the country. “We want to understand what they’re doing in our neighborhoods and how it’s being funded,” he said.
Our investigation found that as of October 5, at least 50 citizens were detained based on citizenship questions. Almost all of them were Latino. Approximately 130 other people have been detained following raids and protests on suspicion of assaulting police officers and hindering arrest. Many such cases have fallen under scrutiny.
More than 170 U.S. citizens were found to be in immigration custody. They have been kicked, dragged and restrained for days.
We found Americans being dragged, tackled, beaten, tasered, and shot by immigration officers. At least 24 citizens reported being detained for at least a day without access to a phone or a lawyer.
Bass and Garcia said the abuses against citizens come as the administration repeatedly blocks attempts by Congress to visit and monitor federal detention facilities like Los Angeles, where immigrants are arrested for checking in or reporting to immigration court.
“It’s important to say today that what’s happening to illegal aliens is also happening to American citizens. That means this can happen to anyone, all of us, at any time,” Bass said.
In the wake of our article, members of Congress also sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security.
In a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday, Garcia and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said residents of cities like Los Angeles are bearing the brunt of the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
“The impact of these arrests is not evenly distributed across the country, with cities such as Chicago, Portland, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles being targeted,” Garcia and Blumenthal wrote. “Troublingly, the pattern of arrests of U.S. citizens coincides with an alarming increase in racial profiling, especially of Latinos, which has been well documented in Los Angeles.”
DHS has not responded to previous letters.
Asked about the concerns of elected leaders, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin denied claims that immigration officials engage in racial profiling. In a statement to ProPublica, she said the Supreme Court’s interim ruling in September “vindicated” the administration “whether Mayor Bass and Congressman Garcia like it or not.”
“DHS enforces federal immigration laws without fear, favor or bias,” McLaughlin wrote. “Claims by the media, agitators, and sanctuary politicians like Mayor Bass and Congressman Garcia that ICE is targeting American citizens, making unconstitutional arrests, and ‘trampling civil liberties’ are false.”
White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson told ProPublica in an email that “unbridled rhetoric from activists and Democratic politicians” is to blame for the increase in assaults on ICE agents.
Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller derided Bass’ press conference on social media, calling it a “terrible lie.”
“A violent leftist has been arrested and charged with a felony count of unlawful interference with federal law enforcement. Think twice. Open our borders. Democrats are inciting the left to violently attack ICE,” Miller wrote Monday night.
Of the cases tracked up to October 5, nearly 50 cases were found where no charges were filed or the cases were dismissed. According to our count, at least eight citizens have pleaded guilty, most to misdemeanors such as failure to comply with an order. Some have been charged with more serious charges, including ramming into a police officer’s car. (The driver pleaded not guilty.)
Our accounts do not count citizens who are later arrested after going through some judicial process or detained by local police or the National Guard. Some of them have been charged with felonies such as throwing rocks or throwing smoke bombs to start a fire.
