Congressional Democrats prepare investigations into immigration agent killings

Subpoenas could reach Homan, Noem, Bovino and Miller as witnesses

Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, expected to lead the House Judiciary Committee, told NPR in a statement that Congress will use “every tool” at its disposal to investigate ICE and that it is time for the agency to “start answering to the American people.” California Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, expected to lead the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, vowed to take on DHS and ICE abuses in a two-word statement: “Lawyer Up.” Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, expected to lead the House Committee on Homeland Security, sent a letter on Wednesday to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin demanding the agency “comply with all document preservation requirements.” Illinois Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez wrote on social media that Noem, Miller, Homan, Bovino and Mullin should “clear” their schedules.

Democratic leaders have already said the renewed investigations are the plan. According to NPR, the killings of Pretti and Good by immigration agents will likely be the targets of renewed investigations after the party’s sweeping wins in this week’s midterm elections.

With a majority in Congress, Democrats can issue subpoenas compelling officials to testify under oath before the legislature. That could include White House Border Czar Tom Homan, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, former Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino and White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, among others. Congress can also demand internal documents such as use-of-force reports.

Democrats have already held shadow hearings on the ICE shootings, during which they called family members and witnesses to testify. Naureen Shah, who leads the ACLU’s immigration policy work, said the committees “can dissect these individual shootings, and really unravel the story of what happened.” She said Congress can now put key questions to top decision makers: What orders were given to immigration officers in the field? What was training like for these officers? And who made the decision to paint Good and Pretti as threats, including calling Pretti a “would-be assassin” and a domestic terrorist, when video showed otherwise?

“It’s like we can turn the faucet on and actually find out so much more,” Shah said. “There’s an aspect of this that is really about a kind of reckoning with how it’s possible that things that seemed unthinkable could happen on American streets. How do you have that reckoning if you don’t actually have the ability to force people to explain themselves?”

There are key limits to what Democrats in Congress can do with their majority on ICE accountability, said Rachel Moran, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Major changes, such as clawing back funding for the agency, would require a veto-proof majority, which Democrats do not have. “You still have a president who has shown a complete lack of interest in accountability for federal agents and in fact, a great deal of knee jerk defensiveness about their conduct,” Moran said.

Federal law enforcement officials have given little indication they are progressing in investigating the deaths of Pretti and Good, or the deaths of at least seven other people killed by federal immigration agents since Trump took office again last year. DHS did not respond to NPR’s request for the status of those investigations.

A deeper probe into the shootings could still serve important purposes, Moran said, such as making evidence available for states to use in their own criminal investigations. Minnesota officials, for instance, have been fighting with the federal government to get evidence related to the Pretti and Good killings.

In response to the Democratic plans, DHS general counsel James Percival said Democrats are “more interested in political shenanigans than in governing” but said the agency is prepared to “deal with this nonsense.” A White House spokesperson told NPR in a statement that “if Democrats choose to pursue sham investigations and radical left policies, they are choosing to work against the American people.” The statement added that Democrats “should be reminded that we still control the federal government and all of its powers.” Congress, however, has its own powers, including the ability to compel testimony.

The morning after Tuesday’s midterms was gloomy and rainy in Minneapolis, but people still gathered at the place where Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a VA nurse and U.S. citizen, last January. All week, community members have come to the memorial to place their “I Voted” stickers.

Nicki Adams, who dated Pretti and was his close friend for nearly 17 years, watched quietly as a woman added her sticker to a street lamp completely covered in the red decals. “I wanted to see all the stickers. I just wanted to be here,” Adams said. “It just means a lot to me. I think it would mean a lot to Alex, too.” A few blocks away, people left stickers where an ICE officer killed Renee Good, a mother of three and U.S. citizen, just a few weeks before Pretti’s death. In Houston, they left them where an ICE officer killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a father of three and a Mexican immigrant, in July.

Adams said the stickers and the week’s election results send a clear message to Congress: “You work for us, and please carry on these values that we care about … We want to be seen and heard and taken care of and have our neighbors taken care of.”

For Brent Ganger, Renee Good’s brother, learning more information about his sister’s death will be hard to hear, “but I think it’s also super important for us to understand what happened that day. I don’t want history to keep repeating itself,” he said. It was painful, he said, to watch immigration agents kill more people after his sister. He thought her death would be a turning point; in a way, it might have been the start of one. After the surge in Minneapolis, most Americans said ICE had gone too far, according to NPR’s reporting.

Ganger, who considers himself a moderate, said he was happy to see the Blue Wave this week. On election night, he was scrolling Instagram when he saw a photo of his sister’s memorial site with all the “I Voted” stickers. “I was very grateful to see the repudiation of this administration from the country. It felt very supportive of my entire family,” he said. The next morning, at his home in Colorado, he got up and made biscuits and gravy, his sister’s favorite breakfast.