Funding Lapse and Security Gaps: Harmful DHS Shutdown Impacts on Americans

before us now to testify in a regular order, but was never asked. Today is a distraction from the fact that DHS has been shut down for over sixty-five days and the security impacts of that are real and the workforce is suffering. Rather than work to reopen DHS, the minority has used prior hearings to accost witnesses who volunteered voluntarily appeared before the committee. Listen to their own words. On February tenth, minority members said the greatest threat to the homeland right now is the Department of Homeland Security. Another minority member said, another minority member said, " DHS cannot be reformed. It must be dismantled." And I know the ranking member disagrees with that view and I appreciate that. But let's be honest, those are not serious positions. DHS was created after nine eleven to break down silos, improve coordination, and help keep the American people safe. Calling it a dismantle, it ignores why it was created in the first place. Publicans have voted to fully fund the department three times. Publicans have voted to provide the department with more resources for training, body cameras and internal investigations and accountability. This committee was the first between the House and the Senate combined to hold a hearing with federal immigration officials this year. I wish my Democratic colleagues would drop this charade and support reopening the department. That being said, I do appreciate the witnesses being here and providing testimony today. I now recognize the ranking member, the gentleman from Mississippi, Mister Thompson, for his opening statement.

Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Before we begin, I want to welcome the newest democratic member of the committee, the gentlewoman from New Jersey's eleventh district, Miss Mija. Uh, Congresswoman Mija is a proud daughter of immigrants, a fierce advocate for labor, and a champion for those in need. Her firsthand experience dealing with flooding and other natural disasters in her community will be an asset to this committee. We're fortunate to have her. I look forward to working with her. Again, welcome. I also welcome our panel of witnesses to this minority day hearing. I will note that it's been twenty years since the Committee on Homeland Security held a minority day. Over the years, the committee has conducted oversight in countless homeland security issues, but none of these issues were more urgent than Americans being locked up, assaulted, shot and killed, by the Department of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, ICE and CBP have killed Rene Good, Alex Prett, in cold blood and shot, beat, harassed, arrested or locked up countless more innocent people. Congress cannot stand idly by while Americans are hurt and killed by their own government. That's why Democrats are demanding accountability. That means holding oversight hearings, obtaining documents and demanding answers from the Trump administration. Unfortunately, Republicans have done nothing of the sort. Republicans have refused to work across the aisle to enact meaningful ICE and CBP reforms. And during so, they have forced the longest partisan government shutdown in history. Less than a year ago, Republicans gave ICE and CBP one hundred and fifty billion dollar slush fund paid for with taxpayers' dollars with no oversight or strings attached. Now Republicans want to give them another seventy billion dollars in reconciliation so Stephen Miller, Tom Holman and Mark Wayne Mullen can do whatever they want with it. It's outrageous. Congressional Democrats are saying enough is enough. And on this committee in particular, we refuse to allow Republicans to shirk our oversight responsibility. After Republicans refused Democrats' requests to invite ICE and CBP to our DHS shutdown hearing last month we requested a minority day hearing with Miller and Holman, the architects of Trump's out of control immigration policies. Unfortunately, the White House refused to send them to testify today, but But that comes at no surprise. Stephen Miller has the blood of American citizens on his hands. And Tom Holman doesn't want to answer questions about why he was recorded by the FBI, accepting fifty thousand dollars cash in a takeout bag from undercover agents. They are hiding from accountability today, and they are being aided and abetted by congressional Republicans. The most recent example in this appalling uh letter the chairman sent to Miller and Holman, discouraging them from attending this hearing. He went so far as to refer to our request as " a distraction" and " not a serious attempt at oversight." Imagine calling oversight of the deaths of Americans a distraction, and not serious. How ironic for a Republican's to call democratic hearings requests unserious when the chairman's seven page invitation letter was more that of the entirety of Republicans' oversight, this Congress. It's a shame. Unfortunately, the Trump administration has ignored Democrats' oversight requests, all Congress, and refused to release critical evidence against ICE and CBP in the death of Rene and Alex. In general, every Democrat on this committee signed a letter to then-Secretary Christie Nome demanding video recordings and other documents in the death of Miss Good and Mister Prattie. Four months later, that letter is still unanswered. Mister Chairman, I ask that that letter be included in the record.

Got it, sir.

We remember them today, and our prayers are with their loved ones. I want to thank the witnesses who are here to tell their stories on the record. It takes real courage to do that, and we thank them for coming forward. Mir- Mirmar Martinez, a US citizen and preschool teacher, was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent after he rammed her vehicle as she drove through a Chicago neighborhood. Reverend David Black, Senior Pastor at the First Presbyterian, Church of Chicago, was outside the Broadview Ice detention facility, praying when DHS law enforcement officers shot him with pepper balls multiple time. George Redis, a US citizen and Iraqi 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 Eklund, a US citizen from Minnesota, was violently arrested and detained for hours without explanation after recording ICE activity from his vehicle. I asked the clerk to please play a short video showing what Trump's DHS did to our witnesses.

Just looked down and I looked at my hand, it was full of blood. That's when I realized like, I really, I actually got shot.

Marty Martin Martinez is a teacher's assistant.

at a Montessori school in Chicago. Watch closely as this angle shows Axum pull his own wheel to the left into Martinez's car, contradicting federal statements that she ran into them. It will be Army veteran George Retis. You can see some aerial video from back in July. Retis is in that white vehicle there. He's arriving at his workplace as a raid was taking place. Now, agents later broke his window, they pepper sprayed him, they detained him in jail for three days before releasing him. And though DHS later said in a statement that he had been arrested for That pastor was David Black. He joins us now. Good morning. Good morning, pastor.

Good morning.

Good morning.

So I stepped forward and I prayed for the ICE officers who were and as I was praying audibly, uh, to them, they opened fire on me and shot me twice in the head, another five times on the body at least.

As some of Ryan Eklund tells us, that he had just dropped off a kid at school. He had headed over to the grocery store to pick up some things when he noticed, uh, a pretty clearly an ICE vehicle.

One of those ICE agents went into the backseat. gave me a choke hold around the uh the driver's headrest, uh and those five agents uh pulled me to the streets, uh put me in cuffs and put me in an unmarked van.

Violence against Americans, like we saw on the video, must never happen again. Doing nothing is not an option. Mr. Chairman, I'm sorry, Mister Miller and Mister Holman didn't have the guts to show up and face these witnesses today. I'm sorry they didn't have Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I

Thank you.

Other members of the committee are reminded that opening statements may be submitted for the record. I would now like to formally introduce our witnesses. Miss Marimar Martinez. Uh, I recognize Mr. Chui-Garcia for thirty seconds to introduce his constituent.

Uh, thank you, uh, Mr. Chairman, uh, Gabarino, for this opportunity to introduce Marimar Martinez. Marimar is my constituent and a US citizen. She works as a teacher, assistant at a Montessori school. Marimar was shot five times by Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum, who bragged about it to his fellow agents. Despite dismissing the bogus charges against her, the Trump administration continues to lie about Marimar and smear her as a domestic terrorist. I'm proud that Marimar was my guest at the State of the Union. I commend her courage for speaking out about

Thank you. Pastor David Black, Mister George Rites, Junior, and Mister Ryan Eklund. Thank all the witnesses for being here today. Presum pursuant to committee rule eight C, I ask that the witnesses please rise and raise their right hand. We solemnly swear that the testimony you'll give before the Committee on Homeland Security of the United States House Representatives will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. All right. We can be uh let the record reflect that the witnesses have answered the affirmative. Thank you and please be seated. And now recognize Miss Martinez for five minutes to summarize her opening statement.

My name is Marimar Martinez. I stand here not only as a survivor of this administration actions, but as a voice for those who cannot be heard. Those pleading for justice, living in fear, and demanding real change, transparency, and accountability. I am raised and born in Chicago, Illinois. I am a daughter of immigrants, a first generation Mexican-American. I learned the values of resilience, community, respect, love, and hope. We build and we dream. That's what immigrant families do. we learn to bloom in places that try to bury us. On October fourth, those values were tested when my life was nearly taken by my own government. On Saturday, October fourth, twenty twenty five, I left my home. After spending the morning preparing clothes and shoes to donate to my local church, as I drove to the church, I noticed a SUV that appeared consistent with border patrol vehicle that had been invading my Hispanic neighborhood in recent weeks. As I got closer, I saw what a appeared to be an in the front windshield, no front plates, as require any lo any noise in an out of state license plate. A uniformed border patrol agent, I was aware and concerned of recent incidents in my community. For a short period of time, I followed a vehicle and alerted my community by honking and shouting to warn my neighbors about the presence of these agents who had been terrorizing our community over the past few weeks. My vehicle was to the left of the Border Patrol vehicle. At one point Border Patrol agents started to swerve into my lane as we were driving. I made eye contact with the driver of the Border Patrol vehicle and watched as he turned his steering wheel once again to his left and so I swept my vehicle. I immediately froze, slammed on the brakes, and stopped my car. The Border Patrol stopped just one to two car lengths a- ahead of me. At that moment I believed I was in danger. based on what I knew watching the news coverage of ICE agents encounters in Chicago, that I was in danger. I drove forward and went around the Border Patrol agents who jumped out of his car and pointed a gun at me. I moved to the far left lane, striking the curb on the far left side. The next thing I knew, I felt burning sisa- sensations in my arms and legs. Shortly after, I began to feel sharp impacts and burning sensation as I continued to drive past the Border Patrol agents. I could hear my back passenger window window shattered. I looked down and noticed blood gushing out of my arms and legs, and I realized I had been shot multiple times. I managed to drive a mile from where the incident happened, and I pulled into a parking lot of a mechanic shop and called nine one one. At the hospital, I remember seeing multiple agents standing around, watching me treated for my wounds. My arms, legs, and chest were all wrapped in dressings. I had seven bullet holes in my I remember the agents rushing the nurses to finish up so they could take me to jail. After being at the hospital for less than three hours, I was discharged and placed into custody of the FBI. Because I had been rushed out of the hospital so quickly, the blood started soaking through the dressings. FBI agent called an ambulance and transported me back to another hospital where my wounds were retreated. And I received additional medical care before being released back into FBI custody and taken to. The news in the jail that evening had my story. I was being called a domestic terrorist. They said I ran federal agents. I was in shock. If they only knew I was just months away from paying my car, and I w- I never intentionally damaged my vehicle, much less be crazy enough to hit a law enforcement vehicle. On Friday I was teaching the young children at the Montessori school, and on Saturday my own government was calling me a domestic terrorist. And I was in federal detention center with bullet holes all over Two weeks before the government dismissed all my charges in my case, I sat in federal courtroom and watched over twenty feet away as the Border Patrol agent who attempted to kill me testify at a hearing. Charles Exum. Charles Exum was my attempted execu executioner. Exum was in the courtroom testifying, explaining why he took his vehicle that I allegedly ran out of the secure FBI evidence garage and drove it back to Maine. where the CBP on-site mechanic was ordered to buff out damages to the vehicle. This was all done prior to me or my attorney having the ability to examine the vehicle. Reason for this was unknown. Watching Charles Exum testify, it felt deeply eroding, I grew reverent in law enforcement's. Witnessing ICE actions however, it changed their beliefs, what I saw did not reflect the values I had trusted. Despite assurance that these operations will focus on the worst of the worst, their actions and statements made on their to a different story. The evidence does not show a focus on the most dangerous individuals. Instead, it suggests the patterns of targeting people who fit a certain profile. Individuals are being singled out, characterized such as their accent, color of their skin. This raises serious concern about fairness, discrimination, and abuse of authority. The lack of accountability for these actions is deeply troubling. We the people are tired of this misconduct and demand transparency and accountability. Seeing

General Lady, uh, this time has expired. I'm sorry, but we have to keep the hearing going. Um, I now recognize Reverend uh Pastor Black to summarize his opening statement.

Chairman Garbarino, Ranking Member Thompson, members of the committee. My name is Pastor Black. I serve a community My calling is as ordinary as they come, to preach the gospel and to care for the people of God. I have often felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to minister in places where people are suffering and calling for justice. That is what Jesus taught his followers to do. And like many of you, I happen to be a Bible-believing Christian. I am aware that all of the Republican and most of the Democrat members of this committee are also Christians. I hope that you will receive me today not as a political adversary, but as a sibling and a friend in Christ. The Department of Homeland Security was created to protect our communities from political extremists. ICE and CBP were designed to prevent terrorism. But now they appear to be creating more fear and violence in American communities than the threats they are designed to prevent. Families across America are sheltering in their homes for fear that a father, mother, might be abducted and deported without due process. Chemical warfare is being unleashed by agents of ICE and CBP against citizens and residents of American communities who pose no threat. ICE has shot and killed people who are lawfully recording their operations. Countless Americans who assemble to peacefully protest these atrocities have been attacked by ICE and CBP with brutal and sometimes deadly force. I am one of them. On the evening of September nineteenth, twenty twenty five, I joined a group of clergy and activists peacefully protesting outside the ICE detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. I went as a Christian minister in traditional clerical attire. I approached the building with my arms outstretched and quoted Jesus to the agents, urging them to repent, for the kingdom of God is near. The masked agents opened shooting me at least seven times in the head, in the face, and the body with pepper balls, which their manufacturer warns can cause severe or permanent injury or death, when fired at sensitive areas like the head and the face. What was done to me is only a reflection of what is being done to people in my community, who have no pulpit and no platform. On a daily basis, I witness the fear and the suffering of those who are being targeted by this violent camp People in my community are struggling to pay for food, housing, and health care. Meanwhile, they are living in fear that a member of their family or community could be taken by ICE, regardless of their citizenship status, simply on the basis of the language they speak or the color of their skin. People have a right to come to America seeking safety. Those of us who call ourselves Christians have a spiritual responsibility. to receive them as our neighbors. That is the demand that Jesus places upon us, who are his disciples, telling us that what we do for those who are strangers, those who are hungry, those who are sick, and those who are imprisoned, we have done for him. There is an effort underway to increase funding for ICE and CBP's abhorrent activities, by tens of billions of dollars, with funding that has been taken from Medicaid, and This is quite literally an effort to take food out of the mouths of babies, to pay for tear gas and bullets, for ice i- for ice to use against Americans. I want to remind members that a budget is a moral document, that what we spend reflects our priorities as a nation. We must ask whether those priorities are food, health care, housing, and public safety, or whether the priorities is to intensify the fear and the violence gripping our nation. As a Christian and an American, I am horrified by the radical evil being perpetrated by my government. Jesus suffered torture and execution to liberate the world from the forces of spiritual evil that oppress it. Yet many of those calling themselves Christian have built and sustained institutions that dominate, coerce, and terrorize. ICE and CBP are two such institutions. They cannot coexist with the kingdom of God. The only righteous path forward is to abolish these agencies, and in contrition and true repentance, rededicate their funding to support programs that feed the hungry, welcome strangers, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and set captives free. Remember, friends, that what we do for them, we are doing for Christ himself. Let those with ears to hear listen.

Gentleman yields back. I now recognize Mister Retes. Hope I got that right, for five minutes to summarize his opening statement.

I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today and provide this testimony. My name is George Retes. I'm twenty-six years old, a US citizen, a veteran, and a father of two from Ventura, California. Last July, I was wrongfully detained by federal agents during an immigration raid while on my way to work. I did everything right. I identified myself. I told them I was an American citizen. I told them I was a veteran. I pointed at my place of work, which was right behind the barricade they established. None of it mattered. In that moment, my constitutional rights didn't protect me, my service didn't protect me, my citizen- my citizenship didn't protect me. I want you to understand exactly what that situation looked like. On July tenth, twenty twenty five, I was driving to my job as a security guard at a licensed farm in Camarillo, California. Federal agents, federal immigration agents were lined across the road that led to the farm where I worked. I clearly stated my citis- citizenship and fully complied with officers, even though they were all yelling contradictory orders, and no one was clearly in charge. Agents were yelling at me to reverse, to get out of my vehicle, to pull over to the side, to leave, yet despite everything do- d- yet despite doing everything right, I was detained and treated as if I had no rights. Agents engulfed my car with tear gas, smashed my window, pepper sprayed my face, and dragged me out. I was choking on gas, unable to breathe, and even though I wasn't resisting, I had one agent kneeling on my back and another kneeling on my neck, while my hands were already behind my back. I was first taken to a Navy base where the agents took my fingerprints, picture, and DNA. I was then taken to a detention center and held for three days without charges. No phone call, no lawyer, no medical care, even though my skin burned from the chemicals. I never even got to shower. Friday morning, I was put on suicide watch. Suicide watch is a yellow concrete room with a concrete bed and a tiny mattress on top. They leave the lights on twenty four seven. I'm naked in a hospital gown and the guard watches me. I'm like that in those conditions from Friday morning to the point I was released. I was released with zero charges and no explanation for anything that happened. I missed my daughter's third birthday p- well, in this unjustified detention. After my release, Instead of correcting the record, officials from DHS, specifically DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLoughlin, used social media to spread false and misleading statements about me, in attempt to justify my detention and undermine my credibility. I was wrongfully detained and then pub- publicly misrepresented by the very agency that violated my rights. That is not transparency. That is damage control at the expense of the truth. What happened to me is not just a mistake. It is a failure of process, a failure of of accountability, a failure of training, and it was a breakdown of the basic responsibility the government has to to the people it serves. We talk a lot in this country about law and order, but law and order only work when the law is applied correctly, and when the people enforcing it are held accountable when they get it wrong. Because when federal agents can violate someone's rights and face no immediate consequence that is not law and order, that is government overreach. If a US citizen, an army veteran, someone who complied, identified himself, and broke no law can be treated this way, detained without charges, denied basic rights, physically restrained, and then publicly smeared to justify it, then no one in this country is as safe as they believe they are. The Constitution does not apply when it is convenient. Civil rights do not disappear because an agency makes a mistake. And truth does not stop mattering because it is uncomfortable. I'm not asking for sympathy, I'm asking for accountability, not just for myself but for everyone who does not have a platform, a lawyer, or the ability to stand in front of you and tell their story. Because if this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. Thank you again for inviting me to test. I welcome your questions.

Thank you very much. I now recognize Mister Eklund for five minutes to summarize his opening statement.

Chair, Ranking Member, and members of the committee, my name is Ryan Eklund. I'm a lifelong Minnesota resident, a business owner, a husband and a father, and a United States citizen. On January seventh, Renee Goode was shot and killed. She left behind loved ones, including a young son. And that event was broadcast worldwide and immediately sparked conversations about what immigration agents were really doing in Minnesota. When my older son asked my wife and I if ICE was going to come to our east metro suburb of Woodbury my wife gave what she thought was a truthful answer. That ICE would probably stay in the more densely populated areas, and that his friends would remain safe. Just five days later, my family and I learned that was not the case. On Monday, January twelfth, after dropping my son off at school, I went to the grocery store less than a mile from our home. I saw a vehicle with heavily tinted windows, Texas license plates, slowly rolling through the parking lot, and as they drove by, I noticed men in tactical gear and face coverings. At that moment, I made a decision to grab my phone and record the vehicle as I followed from a safe distance. Now, I've been asked by many people why I made that decision, and the simple answer was and continues to be accountability. Up to this point, ICE and their presence in the Twin Cities had been well documented, and I felt a strong conviction to continue to hold these individuals and the administration who sent them to spread fear and intimidation, accountable for their actions in my own community. As other events showed, the best way to hold federal agents in Minneapolis accountable for their misconduct was by documenting their actions, so that's what I did. Once the vehicle noticed me following, the agents parked in another area and I parked a few spaces away. An ICE agent in military fatigues came up to my window and took my photo, said nothing, got back into the vehicle, and then left the shopping area. I continued to follow them down the road as they then turned into my neighborhood, down my street, and into my cul-de-sac, driving directly past my house. I realized they had likely used facial recognition software to identify me. Please consider this for a moment, that a government agent used advanced technology to identify and intimidate a US citizen for exercising his First Amendment rights. What purpose does this serve? Remember, these agents were not in pursuit of a violent criminal. They were lurking in a grocery store parking lot at nine forty-five in the morning. I followed them out of my neighborhood and an addit- an additional vehicle joined the front of our caravan. Then the agents boxed in my car and five masked ice agents then approached my vehicle. One of the agents opened my door and another agent came through the backseat and put me in a chokehold. They forced me from my vehicle and onto the ground. I was never ordered out of the vehicle and at no point did One agent had a knee on my back and another had a knee on my neck, and that agent moved and scraped my face on the pavement. My hands were forced behind my back and I was handcuffed and put into an unmarked van and transported to the Whipple federal building. Once at the federal building, I was put into leg irons and into an empty holding cell, and throughout my nine-hour unlawful detention, I was joined by eight additional detainees, each one a US citizen. One of the young men who entered after me was an apprentice plumber and said that he on a new home construction job site in the South Metro, when ICE came to the property and once he declined to shake the y- shake the ICE agent's hand, he was put into custody. I was released that evening with no charges and less than two weeks later, Alex Preti, who former secretary Noem called a domestic terrorist, was shot ten times by ICE. The siege on the people of the Twin Cities by their own government has forever altered our state and in response, Minnesotans do what we always do. We show up for one another. We stood up for one another. We supported our neighbors, delivered food to those who didn't feel safe leaving their homes, and stood with our children at the bus stop, so they wouldn't feel scared. We protected and supported our i- immigrant-owned businesses, and we proved that Minnesota is not a place, but a way of being. The administration hoped the Twin Cities would be a proving ground for that, f- for the farce that was Operation Metro surge. And instead they learned why Minnesotans have always known, when we all do better, we all do better. We will spend years accounting for the financial toll taken on the Twin Cities, and we will spend years recovering from the fear instilled in our valued immigrant communities. But I believe in us. Minnesotans showed the world what courage looks like. When operations like this are carried out without precision and without transparency and without accountability, they impact entire communities. This community, uh,

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Members will be recognized by order of seniority for their five minutes of questioning. I'll be keeping to the five minute rule like we've been doing at these hearings. I now recognize the ranking member for five minutes of questions.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Um, I think the record needs to reflect that the four witnesses here are all American citizens. Uh, they have every right, uh, entitled to them that an American citizen, uh, should have, guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America. More importantly, though, is their issue comes with agencies that are tasked with the response of protecting them. And the stories that I've heard today uh gives validity to why we're having this minority uh hearing today. Uh, Republicans don't wanna hear the truth. Uh, if they did, we could have had a formal hearing uh with these witnesses and whoever they wanted to put in front of us to refute it. But they didn't. So here we had to pull out a a an arcane law, a a rule, where you, if you don't get your uh hearing, you have a minority day. So we're here, um, and as a nation of laws, uh, Republicans have shut down DHS for over two months, uh, rather than agree to reform and prevent out of control ICE and CBT. personnel from hurting Americans and terrorizing communities. They refused to conduct oversight and dismissed hearings as, quote, a distraction and not a serious attempt at conducting oversight. The point that I wanna make is almost to the person, everybody that we have as a witness, almost within a matter of minutes, the public notice from the federal agency was that you were breaking the law. Uh, somehow those agents were responding to out of control citizens. Well, we showed in the, uh, the film that that's not the case. And, uh, So, Miss Martinez, Mr. Reyes, Miss, Mr. Erkland and Reverend Black, you all are worthy of this committee's oversight. So I ask you, do you believe that what you experienced at the hand of your own government is serious?

It's very serious.

So, is oversight of ICE and CBP a distraction or does it demand congressional attention?

Demands attention.

So, of course, this is a serious issue and of course, this committee should be doing its oversight job. It's a shame that Democrats had to force Republicans to hold today's hearing, uh, and obviously other than the chairman, not a single republican on this committee showed up. Uh, you know, we took an oath to do our duty, these are the rules, and for whatever reason uh they chose not to come. Uh, that's so unfortunate. So Miss Martinez, on October fourth, twenty twenty five, you were driving in Chicago when a CBP uh vehicle swiped yours. You were shot five times. Uh, Border Patrol agents had seven bullet holes in your body. Within hours, as I said, DHS put your photo on the press and falsely accused you of being a domestic terrorist, when in fact you are law abiding US citizen. The assault charge against you was later dismissed, but DHS has never retracted that press release. The agent who shot you and bragged about it to his buddy

Well, look at what happened to Renee.

Mm. Mm.

Look at what happened to Alex Pratt. It's bound to happen sooner or later if we don't hold these um agents accountable for their actions more.

Absolutely. Let's see uh uh you're back.

Uh, gentleman yields back. Just uh set the record straight. Uh, this committee did have oversight, uh have it did have CBP, Commissioner and uh ICE both uh here as witnesses. And again um the minority could have requested these witnesses to be here under regular order. Uh, just again correcting the the record there. Uh, I now recognize the gentleman from California, Mister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and Ranking Member, and I want to thank the witnesses for being here today. I want you all to step back a little bit and think about homeland security. The Department of Homeland Security was created to defend America against foreign terrorists. Twenty five years ago. Miss Martinez, are you a terrorist?

No.

Mister Black, are you a terrorist?

No, Congressman.

Mister Redis, are you a terrorist?

No.

Mister Eklund, are you a terrorist?

No, sir.

President Trump got elected. Pledging to deport the worst of the worst criminals in our society. So I'm gonna ask each one of you. Miss Martinez, are you a criminal?

No, I'm not.

Have you ever gotten convicted of a

Never.

Pastor Black, what have you been convicted of?

Nothing, sir.

Never been convicted of anything. Mister read this.

Never convicted of anything.

And you're a veteran.

And a veteran.

Iraq War.

Iraq War.

Thank you for your service to our country. Mister Eklund, are you a criminal?

No, sir.

Miss Martinez, you're a citizen, yes?

Correct.

Mister Black, you're a citizen, yes.

Yes, sir.

Mister Redis, you're a citizen.

Yes, sir.

Mister Eklund, you're a citizen.

Yes, sir.

In what you were doing and what they claimed that made you a terrorist, were you protecting the worst of the worst criminals in your communities, Miss Martinez? Mister Black.

No, sir.

Mister Retis.

No, I was on my way to work.

You're on your way to work. Mister Eklund.

No, sir. I was on the way to the grocery store.

And I'm asking you this because I wanna make sure a man

My phone was not taken. I was not arrested.

Yes.

My phone was taken from me and thrown into the vehicle that was left on the street.

Do you know if the federal government is now creating a database on American citizens? Miss Martinez, what do you think?

It's ridiculous. It's scary.

Mister Black.

I believe, sir, that it shows contempt for public safety and contempt for the American people.

Mister Redis.

It's insane.

Miss Ecc- Mister Eklund.

It's patently un-American.

You know, Miss Martinez, back home, when you have an officer-involved shooting, There is an investigation. People stopped and looked and tried to see what happened. And those officers that are generally involved in those shootings have remorse. I know I've talked to them. In your case, what did the officer do after he shot you?

He bragged about the shooting practically, like he didn't saw me as human, I was just disposable.

And Mister Black, when you were beat up, knocked around, did anybody s-

Congressman, we could hear the ICE officers laughing as they shot us, and afterwards the DHS um also posted mocking statements about us.

Mister Rattis.

Um, what was the question again? I'm sorry.

After you went through the situation, did any of the officers feel remorse? Asked to apologies? You're an American citizen? Did absolutely nothing wrong?

No, they didn't care what's

Mister Eklund, did anybody show remorse, apologize for s- arresting an American citizen for nothing more than your constitutional first amendment right? Did anybody say were apologies?

No, sir.

On the contrary, Mister Eklund, you said you were in a cage with other American citizens

Yes.

who also apparently had no crimes that they committed. Yes?

Yes, to the best of my knowledge, all eight people who were in that

So I asked this committee in this country, what is going on with homeland security? Why this powerful agency not turning on American citizens? Now if you followed the news, they are now buying a bunch of spy software to spy, to eavesdrop, to break into our cell phones without warrants, without any authorization whatsoever. What in God's name is going on? And I hope people watching this hearing today wake up to this, because your stories are the ones I'm hearing back home. You are not isolating incidences. This is happening all over the country. As Mr. Chairman just one last statement, hundred and forty billion last year to homeland security. That's number of years worth of funding in one year, and this year they're back for seventy billion dollars more. Wake up, America. As the chairman, I yield.

A gentleman yields back. I now recognize the gentleman from Rhode Island, Mister Magaziner, for five minutes of questions.

Thank you, Mister Chairman. You know, one of the really special things about being a member of Congress is that every once in a while you get to meet people who are truly courageous. And the four of you are incredibly courageous. You have risked your safety, you have risked your privacy, you have risked being harassed, in order to tell your stories so that other Americans don't have to go through what you all went through. And I want to thank each and every one of you for having the courage to come here and share your stories so that everyone can know what is going on. Your courage stands in contrast to the absolute cowardice of those who refuse to even listen to your stories. The cowardice of Stephen Miller and Tom Holman, who were invited to come here and refused. Stephen Miller is a coward. Tom Holman is a coward. Not only have they not come to this hearing, they haven't testified in front of any committee in Congress during this administration. And all but one of our Republican colleagues on this committee did not have the courage to come here today and listen to So the American people see what's going on. There are a lot of politicians and White House officials who like to talk tough from behind a podium, but they don't have the courage to listen to the people whose lives have been impacted by the cruelty of this administration. The Department of Homeland Security was established to keep Americans And instead, under the Trump administration, the department has been used to invade American neighborhoods with masked police, to break into people's helm- homes without warrants, to beat and even kill Americans in the streets. It's wrong. I wanna ask all four of our witnesses, please raise your hand if you are United States citizen. All four of you. Please raise your hand if you have ever assaulted a law enforcement officer. None of you. Please raise your hand if you've ever committed an act of violence against anyone. None of you. Please raise your hand if you have been arrested or shot by a DHS officer. Every one of you. Shameful. Do any of you know, has have any of the officers who assaulted you, who shot you, been disciplined in any way? Do any of you know of any examples of that?

To my knowledge.

No.

No.

None. That's the problem, the lack of accountability that we've been calling out. I sent a letter two months ago to the head of ICE and the head of Border Patrol to ask them how many of their employees have been disciplined for excessive use of force over the last year and a half. I still haven't received an answer. That lack of accountability is why the American people have lost trust in the Trump administration. So look, we need to fund the government. But what we do not need to do is continue to give a blank check to the Trump administration to terrorize people in American neighborhoods.

Um, I joined in twenty eighteen. Um, I was eighteen at the time, deployed to Iraq. Um, I was stationed in Iraq for ten months. Um, after that, um, went back to, uh, Fairbanks, Alaska, where, uh,

Mm. Thank you. Thank you for that service. On the day you were arrested, were you protesting? Were you harassing officers? You were on your way to work, right?

Yes, uh, correct. I was on my way to work.

And you were locked up for how long?

Um, three days, three nights.

Were you given an opportunity to call a lawyer?

Uh, no phone call to a lawyer, no phone call to my family.

As a matter of fact, Not even a story.

No.

three days. You missed your daughter's birthday party.

No.

Last question. How did your partner, your your wife, I assume, how did she explain that to your daughter?

Um, no explanation.

That's awful. I'm sorry to all of you. You deserve better. I yield back.

Gentleman yields back. Now I'll just check in uh recognize the gentle lady from Illinois, Miss Ramirez, for five minutes questions.

Thank you, Chair, and ranking member, for holding this hearing. I wanna specially thank our witnesses for being here today. I wanna echo what Congresswoman Magisiner just said. You continue to show up for your communities, even when the federal government continues to harm and fail you. And I'll never take for granted what it means to share your stories over and over again. So I wish that you didn't have to keep sharing your story. I wanna thank you for being here today, because it's important for this body, this committee, that has jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security to hear directly from all of you. And while I am extremely disappointed by the fact that only one Republican is here and so many of my colleagues to the right could not be here to face you and to hear directly from you about their inaction and the impact it's had, I am grateful that you are still here and that my colleagues will make sure that your stories actually move into action. It's clear to me that more than ever, DHS remains to be in the biggest threats for collective safety. And in spite of that, this week, Senate Republicans are streamlining another reconciliation bill to fund ICE and CBP for another three years for seventy billion dollars. So, instead of doing policy reforms, instead of accountability and justice for you, my colleagues now wanna give them seventy billion dollars for more terror. And adding insult to injury, Stephen Miller and Tom Homan, the architects of the abuse that we are seeing, can't even be bothered to come and face the people in this room who have survived the atrocities or to come and justify to us why we should give them one more dollar. So I wanna make sure that the administration hears me. Finding Nome, something the people want through their action, is not going to change our resolve to conduct oversight and ensure that there is justice and accountability. Mark Wayne's attempt to roll back some of Nome's they don't change anything. He is still in partnership with Miller and Hohman. Taking a targeted, quieted approach to terrorize us, want to terrorize us, we know people are still being taken, children are being taken at check-ins. We have seen with our own eyes what DHS is capable of, and we do not consent. Trump, Miller and Hohman are willing to weaponize the government against his own people to ensure that anyone who gets in their way, US citizens, end up shot, detained, deported, in the case of so many others dead. We're onto them, and we're gonna hold them accountable, and I'm gonna make sure of that, as so many of my colleagues here will as well. So, Miss Martinez, thank you for being here. And thank you for what you shared today. As someone who has experienced this violence first-hand on your way to work, what would you say to Tom Homan and Stephen Miller, had they had the courage to actually show up today?

I will say, one is enough, enough. How many more children gotta be traumatized? How many more families gotta be separated? Like us Americans, we just want honesty, transparency, and accountability. That's it. That's all we're doi- that's all we want.

And Marimar, one message do you want Congress, this body, to hear? As some of my colleagues in this room are asking, okay, one of them, are asking for billions more to keep funding these violations of our rights. What would you want them to know?

This is not a performance. This is our lives, and we're going through it. We're we're traumatized and we want accountability. We want change and transparency. That's it.

Thank you, Marimar. Based on what we have heard today, I wanna ask my colleagues. And for my colleagues on the other side that might be in their office watching, cuz they didn't have the courage to be able to show up, to confront the people they have harmed, the US citizens they have harmed, How do you justify spending another seventy billion dollars on this dangerous, inhumane, unlawful terror campaign? The H. S. cannot be reformed. There is no justice in a an- any accountability when you are allowing more taxpayer dollars to be spent to keep harming US citizens, children, and families. It must be dismantled piece by piece and something new, a system that honors our rights, respects the Constitution, our dignity and our humanity must be built. So I wanna end in saying this. Today, for this body, for our members of Congress, it's an invitation to actually hear what we've heard from the witnesses and do something about it. I have a bill by the name of melt ice and we can melt ice and we can dismantle DHS. We just have to have the courage and the willingness to stand up for our constituents instead of covering up for Miller, Holman and Donald Trump. With that, I yield back.

Generally, it yields back. Just a reminder, it is a violation of House rules and the rules of this committee to engage in personalities regarding other members or to question the motives of a colleague. I now recognize gentleman from New York, Mister Kennedy, for five minutes questions.

Thank you. Uh, thank you all for being here today and for your testimony. Your courage and willingness to share your stories is going to help us all hold this administration and department of homeland security accountable for the constitutional abuses we're seeing in our communities all across the country. Yours are just a few of these stories. This committee is incredibly grateful for your testimony today, as are the American people. Your testimony will help the American people truly understand the suffering that the Trump administration has inflicted on our very own people. Thankfully, you are with us today. to tell your stories. But we have to remember and honor the memory of those who we we've lost. Alex Preddy and Rene Good in Minnesota, and Nirul Amin Shah Alam in my hometown of Buffalo, just to name a few. ICE can no longer continue to operate behind a smoke screen, masks, and a complete disregard for human rights. The Trump administration's dangerous and erratic so-called mass deportation agenda. has blown through the limits of presidential authority, repeatedly violated the constitution, and unleashed a secret police into our communities, targeting lawfully present immigrants, US citizens like yourselves, workers, children, and United States combat veterans. We invited Stephen Miller and Tom Homan here today. They're the architects of this un-American, unpatriotic, backwards