Ranking Member Lauren Underwood Remarks at Immigration and Customs Enforcement Oversight Hearing

WASHINGTON – This morning, Representative Lauren Underwood, Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations delivered the following the remarks at the subcommittee’s oversight hearing on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE):

“Thank you, Chairman Amodei, and I would like to welcome our witness Todd Lyons, the Acting Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

As the Federal agency charged with the enforcement of violations of customs and immigration laws, the scope of ICE’s investigatory and operational work is broad. ICE has an incredibly important role in preserving public safety and national security by combatting cartels and other transnational criminal organizations, investigating illicit drug trafficking, including deadly fentanyl, human trafficking and smuggling networks, and going after violations of trade and intellectual property laws that seek to undermine our economic security.

However, since January 20 we have seen a shift in priorities by this Administration away from data-driven, security-focused approaches and toward impossible politically-driven goals, like a million removals in a year. Leadership at DHS, and ICE in particular, are operating with disrespect and disregard for the foundational constitutional principles that govern our country.

As we endeavor to secure the homeland, we must continue to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. As I told the Secretary last week: that is not a secondary mission.

But under the Trump Administration, ICE’s work appears to be dominated by egregious mistakes, misuse of taxpayer funds, and flagrant violations of constitutional rights like due process.

Let’s take last month in Oklahoma, where ICE sent 20 armed agents, with their rifles drawn, to storm the home of a mom who was home alone with her young daughters in the middle of the night.

These American citizens who did nothing wrong were forced to wait outside their home in the rain during a midnight investigation that had nothing to do with them.

Agents reportedly confiscated not just their phones and laptops but also their cash savings – again, these are U.S. citizens who, based on publicly available information, were never implicated in any of the crimes being investigated. It’s not even clear whether the family’s devices and savings were ever returned to them.

Your department has issued no apology, taken no accountability, just doubled down.

How can Americans trust an organization that operates like this – that treats them like this – with their national security?

ICE is the second-largest law enforcement component within DHS, America’s largest federal law enforcement agency. You are charged with upholding our laws – which start with the Constitution and Bill of Rights, representing our values as Americans, and using taxpayer dollars responsibly.

And the standard we expect from our federal law enforcement is excellence. The American people deserve nothing less.

But instead of prioritizing the actual greatest threats facing America – because we all know the data shows encounters at the southern border started declining in March 2024 and keep hitting new lows – this Administration is cashing checks it does not have to reach questionable goals it cannot meet.

You’re removing people so hastily and with so little care that you’re defying court orders.

Your department is wasting millions flying the Secretary around the country for publicity stunts so she can post photos on social media from operations that are still ongoing, putting actual agents at risk.

Let me be clear – you are roughly two months away from running out of funding and a violation of the Antidefiency Act. As I said to Secretary Noem, the reliance on funding from a reconciliation bill that has not passed Congress is an incredibly risky strategy that sets you up for failure.

Lastly, let me remind you of Article I of the Constitution, which gives Congress, and only Congress, the power of the purse. Increases to ICE at the expense of other national security programs and initiatives that members on both sides of the aisle voted for undermine our core work and Congressional intent. And if this committee provides funding for your agency, we have every right to oversee how those taxpayer dollars are spent.

Last week, ICE blocked members of Congress from conducting an unannounced inspection at the Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey. That too appears to be in violation of federal law, which clearly states we have the right to enter ICE facilities even if we show up unannounced.

Mr. Lyons, you cannot accept federal funding and then shut the door on oversight from the people’s elected representatives. 

ICE is already burning the money Congress appropriated – and frankly, right now ICE has much more work to do to justify being entrusted with even more taxpayer dollars.

I am deeply concerned about the administration of funds by this department, but ICE in particular, and I am glad we have the opportunity to discuss this further with you today.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.”

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