CORREA CRITICAL OF DHS FRAUD, WASTE, ABUSE AMID FUNDING DEBATE

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Representative Lou Correa (CA-46)-Ranking Member of the Homeland Subcommittee on Border Security & Enforcement and Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement-criticized the Senate reconciliation bill for aiming to give the Trump Administration's Department of Homeland Security an additional $140 Billion for ICE and CBP when agency safeguards are not included amid documented cases of ICE misconduct involving American citizens. The Senate approved the resolution last night.

"It is unconscionable that Congress could grant such a large amount of money to DHS, when ICE has already been flooded with more money than it has ever requested before. Just like the funding increase the agency received last summer from 'the Big, Ugly Bill,' there is no indication that ICE guardrails are included in the Senate bill, including forcing agents to show their faces and agency transparency," said Rep. Lou Correa. "ICE does not need this large slush fund for deportations and immigration enforcement. So what do they need it for? Trump's former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has already spent the agency's budget to buy a luxury private jet and produce highly produced TV ads-an egregious waste of taxpayer money."

While ICE typically receives $10 billion each year, ICE received an additional $75 billion under President Donald Trump's Big, Ugly Bill. If passed and signed into law in its current text, the Senate reconciliation bill would provide an additional $140 Billion for ICE and CBP. Based on publicly available data from OMB, the Senate Budget Committee estimated that ICE has still not used $63.2 billion of the money it received under Trump's Big, Ugly Bill.

ICE and CPB officers' misconduct is well-documented. During yesterday's House Homeland Security Committee hearing on ICE & CBP abuse of Americans, Rep. Correa questioned four U.S. citizens about their altercations with DHS agents. All the witnesses stated there all testified that they had not broken any laws and had never been convicted of crimes, they were still profiled, targeted, detained, and attacked by DHS agents. The witnesses included:

• Marimar Martinez: A preschool teacher who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent after he rammed her vehicle as she drove through a Chicago neighborhood.

• Reverend David Black: A Senior Pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago who was outside the Broadview ICE Detention facility praying when DHS law enforcement officers shot him with pepper balls multiple times. The Reverend testified that ICE officers laughed as it happened.

• George Retes: An Iraq combat veteran, was on his way to work last July when DHS agents pepper sprayed him, arrested him, and locked him up for three days before finally releasing him.

• Ryan Eckland: A U.S. citizen from Minnesota, was violently arrested and detained for hours without explanation after recording ICE activity from his vehicle.

"Although I hold the men and women of law enforcement in high regard, no law enforcement agency is above the law," Rep. Lou Correa added. "Yet, ICE operates as if they have full and total immunity, even when it comes to surveilling, arresting, assaulting, and shooting law abiding U.S. citizens. Americans have constitutional rights that must be respected, and ICE does not have free rein to disrespect those rights and harass U.S. citizens."

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