Padilla, Schiff, Gallego, Colleagues Demand Answers on Diversion of Federal Law Enforcement Agents to Immigration Enforcement

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Alex Padilla, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, and Adam Schiff (both D-Calif.) joined Senator Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and 27 other Senators in blasting President Trump, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and Attorney General Pam Bondi for the Administration's decision to pull thousands of federal law enforcement agents away from their work protecting communities from dangerous criminals and reassign them to arrest, detain, and indiscriminately deport noncitizens without criminal records.

Though the majority of immigrants arrested have no criminal background, many agents across the federal government have been pulled off of cases involving child exploitation, drug trafficking, sanctions evasion, cyberattacks, domestic extremism, and foreign adversaries in the middle of active investigations.

"You have pulled agents away from some of the federal government's most critical criminal investigations, weakening the very work that ensures public safety. In a world in which we must prioritize the use of limited resources, an agent arresting non-violent immigrants necessarily means one less agent available to catch child predators and drug traffickers," wrote the Senators. "This diversion represents a deliberate choice: a stunning abdication of the basic responsibilities of the executive branch to the American people, and a direct threat to the security of communities across the country."

"Redirecting these investigators to pad deportation statistics is not simply irresponsible - it is a dereliction of duty with life-or-death consequences that puts the safety of our children in jeopardy," continued the Senators. "… No modern administration has ever attempted a reallocation of this scale or recklessness."

Reports across the federal government detail that nearly 25% of agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and 80% of agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have been reassigned. These diversions are especially devastating at Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) - one of the nation's frontline agencies combating child exploitation, human trafficking, fentanyl smuggling, and cartel activity. HSI personnel themselves have warned that these reassignments are dismantling one of the country's most effective child protection and national security forces. To mitigate the damage, some investigators have even tried to continue their work at night or on weekends.

The Senators also called out the dangerous national security implications of the Administration's directives, including damage to cyber and critical infrastructure defenses that protect the systems Americans rely on every day for necessities like clean water, air conditioning, and electricity.

"Taken together, these actions are more than just a routine shift in administration priorities; they represent a systematic dismantling of the very institutions that protect Americans in their homes, online, and in their communities," added the Senators. "The fact that the majority of individuals arrested during immigration enforcement operations to date have had no criminal history belies the administration's claim that it is targeting the 'worst of the worst.' Instead, it suggests that federal law enforcement capacity is being sacrificed to fuel a politically orchestrated deportation drive. That tradeoff is indefensible, and it puts Americans at risk to serve a political narrative, not a security strategy."

Specifically, the Senators requested:

• A full accounting of personnel diverted to immigration enforcement from all federal agencies since January 20, 2025, including numbers, assignment duration, and mission details;
• A list of every investigation paused, terminated, or reassigned as a result of, in whole or in part, these diversions, including those related to child exploitation, cyber intrusions, human trafficking, drug smuggling, domestic extremism, terrorism financing, and violent crime;
• Any threat, risk, or operational assessments informing the decision to divert personnel;
• All formal taskings or communications directing agencies to provide personnel for immigration enforcement surge operations;
• Any internal objections raised by agency leadership or career investigators regarding the diversions, and how these objections were addressed; and
• Any internal assessments completed to gauge the impacts of these diversions, including on investigations into child exploitation, human trafficking, cybercrime, counter narcotics, and national security investigations.

In addition to Padilla, Schiff, and Gallego, the letter was also signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Angus King (I-Maine), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Last month, Padilla and Schiff joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative John Garamendi (D-Calif.-08) in releasing a new report detailing the Trump Administration's diversion of funds and resources from the Department of Defense to the Department of Homeland Security to support immigration enforcement, and highlighting its impact on readiness and morale.

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

Dear President Trump, Secretary Noem, and Attorney General Bondi:

We write to express profound alarm at your administration's decision to strip federal law enforcement agencies of thousands of personnel that keep Americans safe and redeploy them to arrest, detain, and deport immigrants. The fact that the majority of those arrested have no criminal background confirms that this mass diversion is not grounded in threat assessments, operational necessity, or any coherent security strategy. You have pulled agents away from some of the federal government's most critical criminal investigations, weakening the very work that ensures public safety. In a world in which we must prioritize the use of limited resources, an agent arresting primarily non-violent immigrants necessarily means one less agent available to catch child predators and drug traffickers. This diversion represents a deliberate choice: a stunning abdication of the basic responsibilities of the executive branch to the American people, and a direct threat to the security of communities across the country.

Your administration has reassigned agents from across the federal government to fuel a politically motivated deportation agenda that bears little relationship to actual security or safety priorities. These agencies range from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Marshals Service, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Department of Defense to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Internal Revenue Service, Department of State, U.S. Secret Service, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Energy, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Agents have been pulled off complex cases mid-investigation- cases involving child exploitation, drug trafficking, sanctions evasion, cyberattacks, domestic extremism, and foreign adversary activity-allowing dangerous criminals to roam free on our streets.

The effects are especially devastating at HSI-an agency the U.S. relies on to combat child exploitation, dismantle human trafficking networks, stop fentanyl pipelines, and combat cartels and other criminal organizations. Over the past decade, HSI has rescued nearly 10,000 children from exploitation, abuse, and trafficking, including through its Cyber Crimes Center, Child Exploitation Investigations Unit. These rescues rely on highly specialized agents, forensic interviewers, digital-evidence teams, and long-term partnerships with state, local, and international law enforcement entities. Yet, entire HSI units have reportedly been reassigned en masse to immigration enforcement, primarily sweeping up immigrants who present no security threat to the U.S. This is not an abstract concern-according to reports of one investigation into a violent sexual child abuse case, the agents working the case were redeployed to immigration enforcement, causing the case to stall. Each day agents fail to arrest the perpetrator is another day this child must suffer heinous exploitation. In diverting these agents, children who would have been identified and rescued are now left in harm's way.

Compounding these harms, technology companies that submit tens of millions of suspected child abuse files each year have already reported a collapse in follow-up from federal investigators. Leads are not being pursued, evidence is aging out, and perpetrators are exploiting the vacuum. Meanwhile, HSI personnel themselves have warned that these reassignments are dismantling one of the country's most effective child protection and national security forces. To mitigate the damage, these employees have, at times, tried to advance cases at nights or on weekends to keep them from being abandoned. Redirecting these investigators to pad deportation statistics is not simply irresponsible-it is a dereliction of duty with life-or-death consequences that puts the safety of our children in jeopardy.

The damage is not limited to HSI but reverberates across the entire federal law enforcement apparatus. At the FBI, nearly one quarter of all agents have been pulled off mission to focus on immigration enforcement-an extraordinary contraction of investigative capacity at a time of rising cyber, counterintelligence, and violent crime threats. At ATF, you have eviscerated firearms trafficking enforcement by reassigning 80 percent of special agents to immigration cases. This has left the agency on pace for a 90 percent decline in dealer-license revocations, its most effective tool for shutting down corrupt gun dealers who funnel weapons into criminal networks. No modern administration has ever attempted a reallocation of this scale or recklessness.

The national security implications are dire. According to one report, a major joint FBI-HSI investigation into illicit Iranian oil shipments-a scheme believed to fund designated terrorist organizations-has suffered from the redeployment, to the point where ships and cash have "disappeared" before they could be seized. Moreover, redirection of employees at DHS' intelligence office has reduced the amount of critical information shared with local law enforcement authorities, impairing their ability to protect Americans from terrorist attacks. Not only is the administration letting terrorists off the hook, but you are doing so to chase publicity-oriented deportation quotas, separating families and sowing chaos in the process.

The dangerous consequences even extend to America's cyber and critical infrastructure defenses. CISA specialists who protect hospitals, water systems, pipelines, energy grids, and election infrastructure from foreign cyberattacks have been transferred to support immigration and deportation operations. Days after reports of the redeployment were released, CISA itself issued a directive warning that federal systems are under siege from a nation-state-affiliated cyber threat. On top of these reductions, reports indicate that the FBI has or plans to cut its Cyber Division staff by half. In an environment of escalating cyber risk, this redirection of expertise is not merely shortsighted-it puts Americans directly in harm's way. Weakening U.S. cyber defenses at this moment creates avoidable national security vulnerabilities-openings that sophisticated foreign actors are already probing and prepared to exploit.

Taken together, these actions are more than just a routine shift in administration priorities; they represent a systematic dismantling of the very institutions that protect Americans in their homes, online, and in their communities. The fact that the majority of individuals arrested during immigration enforcement operations to date have had no criminal history belies the administration's claim that it is targeting the "worst of the worst." Instead, it suggests that federal law enforcement capacity is being sacrificed to fuel a politically orchestrated deportation drive. That tradeoff is indefensible, and it puts Americans at risk to serve a political narrative, not a security strategy.

Given these significant concerns, we request that you provide the following documents and information, as well as a briefing to our staff, by January 19th, 2026:

1. A full accounting of personnel diverted to immigration enforcement from all federal agencies since January 20, 2025, including numbers, assignment duration, and mission details.

2. A list of all investigations paused, terminated, or reassigned as a result of, in whole or in part, these diversions, including those related to child exploitation, cyber intrusions, human trafficking, drug smuggling, domestic extremism, terrorism financing, and violent crime.

3. Any threat, risk, or operational assessments informing the decision to divert personnel. If there are no such assessments, please explain what information was used to make the decision.

4. All formal taskings or communications directing agencies to provide personnel for immigration enforcement surge operations.

5. Any internal objections raised by agency leadership or career investigators regarding the diversions, and how these objections were addressed.

6. Any internal assessments completed to gauge the impacts of these diversions, including on investigations into child exploitation, human trafficking, cybercrime, counter narcotics, and national security investigations.

Federal law enforcement agencies exist to protect the American people-to dismantle criminal networks, safeguard children, secure critical infrastructure, and counter foreign threats. Diverting these experts from their missions without strategic justification or operational need endangers public safety and undermines national security. We urge your administration to provide the requested information promptly and to reassess these reckless decisions.

Sincerely,

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