Press Releases

Washington, D.C. (May 20, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight, delivered opening remarks at a hearing on so-called “threats” to ICE enforcement, where Committee Republicans aided and abetted the Trump Administration’s campaign to stifle Congressional oversight.

Below are Ranking Member Crockett’s remarks at today’s hearing.

WATCH Ranking Member Crockett’s opening statement.

Ranking Member Jasmine Crockett
Subcommittee on Oversight
Hearing on “Examining Threats to ICE Operations”
May 20, 2025

The Republicans have called today’s hearing for one purpose: to help an Administration that’s already rooted in lawlessness and corruption execute their dangerous assault on American democracy. So, in today’s hearing, you’ll hear them admonish their own Congressional colleagues and excuse the behavior of the out-of-control, corrupt Trump Administration. 

They’re going to try to convince you that they’re here to protect law and order and the rule of law, but they won’t mention how the Trump Administration is openly defying many of the 162 court rulings that have paused his illegal executive orders. They won’t talk about how the President has called for the impeachment of judges who rule against him or how they’re allowing ICE agents to raid churches and elementary schools. They won’t talk about how they’re allowing Trump to purge the Department of Justice of employees who helped investigate the January 6th insurrectionists. They won’t talk about how this Administration is preparing to give $5 million to the family of Ashli Babbitt, who participated in said insurrection. Because, they don’t actually care about law and order and the rule of law. They’re here today for one reason: to forfeit their constitutional oversight responsibilities. 

But since I decided to bring up January 6^th, let me run a tape to remind you all of the difference between Congressional oversight versus criminals.

It’s interesting, that one set of behaviors somehow is going to get a family rich overnight. And the other folk that were there in that video, the Members of Congress? Well, they’re saying to arrest them. Let me remind you that those January 6-ers have been pardoned. Let me remind you that yet another January 6-er was just arrested a few days ago for committing what? Another crime. So if we’re going to talk about us keeping our streets safe, let’s be real about who’s causing crimes, who actually went through what we call “due process” because no one denied the January 6th insurrectionists of their due process. They went to court, they either pled guilty or were found guilty and they were sent to prison and half of them—actually all of them, if their sentences said so—should still be in prison. Because we as Americans would be safer. We won’t get into the fact that another one was already in trouble because they had already killed somebody. But I’ll continue on.

Right now, our Republican colleagues want to forfeit their constitutional oversight responsibilities. Let’s talk about what’s actually happening. In March, we learned that the Trump Administration was dismantling the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and terminating staff at the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman, and in the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman. Because they argue, “these offices have obstructed immigration enforcement” and “undermined DHS’s mission.” The Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties investigates public complaints about possible violations of civil rights and civil liberties in DHS activities, including immigration enforcement and discrimination. And the Immigration Detention Ombudsman’s primary responsibility is to conduct oversight on conditions at immigration detention centers. So why would the Trump Administration want to dismantle offices tasked with conducting oversight of immigration enforcement and detention facilities? The simple answer is, without them, there will be no internal oversight offices to assess the legality of the Trump Administration’s policies on immigration enforcement. 

So what have the results been? Since Trump took office in January on January 20^th, nine detainees have died in ICE custody. In fact, in Trump’s first month in office, more detainees died in ICE custody than at any time since fiscal year 2020. Congressional Democrats have engaged in oversight activities of immigration facilities across the country, from Florida—where a 44-year-old Haitian woman died in ICE custody—to Newark, New Jersey—where three of our Democratic colleagues visited in immigration detention facility to ensure the humane treatment of detainees.

This wasn’t about going in and breaking nobody out, especially when there were cameras rolling everywhere. That’s not what they were there to do.

Now, in a breathtaking act of executive obstruction of Congressional oversight and the unprecedented weaponization of the Department of Justice, we have an interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey who for years has argued in court that Donald Trump is above the law. She has announced criminal charges against Congresswoman McIver, for “impeding and interfering with law enforcement.” However, our power as Members of Congress to conduct oversight is found in the Constitution and federal law. In fact, federal law explicitly prohibits DHS from “preventing a Member of Congress from entering for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens or to make any temporary modification at any such facility that in any way alters what is observed by a visiting Member of Congress.” It is against the law—full stop.

Separately, the Court has consistently held that the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution protects individual members from prosecution for legislative acts, including “fact finding, field investigations and information gathering.” The Court has consistently held that the primary purpose of the Speech and Debate Clause is to “prevent intimidation by the executive and before a possibly hostile judiciary.”

So let’s call this for what it is. This Administration is criminalizing legislative oversight, and the Republicans on this Committee are helping them to do so. Rep. McIver didn’t engage in interference. It was ICE that engaged in interference while Members of Congress attempted to conduct a legitimate oversight of ICE facilities.

Everyone—whether you are American or not—should be deeply disturbed and worried about Trump’s abuse of power. They’re attacking universities for teaching things they don’t like. They’re attacking law firms for representing clients that they don’t like. This hearing and these charges are an attempt at political intimidation. The three members in Newark were exercising their constitutional duties to check an out-of-control executive branch. This entire situation happened because of the unjust arrest of Mayor Baraka. And not only were the Members invited in and given a tour of the facility, this was after they had allegedly “broken the law.” 

Now I don’t know about y’all, but where I’m from in Texas, I can tell you that I’m not used to having law enforcement see a crime happen right in front of their faces and then say, “never mind, we’ll just go about our business. In fact, why don’t you go ahead and come on in. Come on in, we’re going to do this tour because, oops, we did make a mistake because technically by law we are supposed to allow you in. And, wait a minute, while you’re here, do y’all want something to drink? We got refreshments for you as well.”

And then after you conduct this Oversight and you actually gave a clean bill of health because you were never there to disrupt, you are always there to do your duty, they came out and they said, everything looks good. And then it wasn’t at that moment that they decided to arrest Members. It wasn’t the next day. In fact, even as I sit here today, no member has been arrested. Now you tell me how many times you can see the robber going the bank, steal the money, and then they say, well, never mind, we’ll think about this later. That is what you call politicizing. And that is what we are here to talk about is wrong.

We have a few other issues with ICE right now. So I’m going to get to them in a second. The DOJ, as I said already, has already dropped the charges against the Mayor. 

Look, they’re coming after everyone who uses their constitutional rights and duties to speak truth to power. The press, the courts, and now Members of Congress. And to be perfectly honest, I had my team do the research: Under no other president, Democrat or Republican, can we find an incident where they have tried to arrest members of Congress.

This is absolutely absurd that they were out there simply doing their duty. We have never seen ICE act in this way. In fact, it’s not less oversight that we need right now, it’s more. Roll the tape.

You can’t tell me that somebody in this building shouldn’t do their jobs, because these people are out of control. You’re talking about arresting members of Congress? These masked agents are running around acting this way? This is not OK. This shouldn’t be about politics. We all should be on the same side saying, we will not stand for this type of activity, but instead, they want to pretend like it’s Members of Congress that are the thugs. It’s Members of Congress that are the ones that are stoking this kind of violence. Let me tell you what those Members of Congress were doing. They were trying to make sure that there would not be another mother that would lose her life in ICE custody, as it was Mother’s Day weekend. They decided that they just wanted to make sure that people were safe because that is who we are supposed to be in this country. And honestly for anybody that considers themselves to be a Christian, they should care about treating people in a humane way. 

And they should also care about due process. Everyone in this country under our Constitution is due, due process.

With that, I will yield.