Norton Calls for Oversight Hearing on Reports of Indiscriminate ICE Raids in D.C. and Around U.S.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a senior member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee (OGR), today released Norton's letter to OGR Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) requesting a committee hearing on allegations of indiscriminate raids being conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the District of Columbia and across the country. Norton called for the hearing after the acting-ICE director repeatedly refused to brief her on what appeared to be capricious raids conducted by ICE in the Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights neighborhoods in the District in July.

In her letter, Norton wrote, "This issue has become a matter of national concern because ICE has been operating without the necessary oversight… With no briefing from the responsible official at ICE, a regular committee oversight hearing is necessary to help me and the many other Members of Congress whose jurisdictions have had such raids determine whether the high bar that the statute and regulations provide is being met. A hearing is due, in any case, because of the increasing number of allegations of improper ICE raids throughout the country and the resulting litigation."

Norton's full letter is below.

The Honorable Trey Gowdy

Chairman

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

United States House of Representatives

2157 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Gowdy:

I write to request that you schedule an oversight hearing to investigate the allegations of indiscriminate raids being conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the District of Columbia and across the country.

For example, ICE officials claimed in a press release following the raids in D.C. that the agency "continues to focus its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security." A committee hearing would help Congress determine if that guidance is followed by ICE agents across the United States. I have asked the Acting Director of ICE for a briefing on the raids in D.C., but ICE has repeatedly given excuses for his refusing to meet with me. This issue has become a matter of national concern because ICE has been operating without the necessary oversight.

For example, ICE made what appear to have been capricious raids in the Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights neighborhoods in the District in July, but ICE has refused a briefing with the Acting Director that would help me understand what happened. I understand that of the 132 individuals arrested in Virginia and D.C. in what ICE is terming "Operation Eagle's Shield," 37 are being prosecuted on criminal charges. Because it is not clear what has happened to those who were not held under criminal charges, residents believe this is evidence that the raids were indiscriminant and unnecessarily broad in scope, targeting minority communities and not criminals.

As you may know, ICE can generally arrest without a warrant only upon a particularized finding that the officer "has reason to believe" the individual is in the country contrary to immigration law "and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest." See 8 U.S.C. § 1357(a)(2). With no briefing from the responsible official at ICE, a regular committee oversight hearing is necessary to help me and the many other Members of Congress whose jurisdictions have had such raids determine whether the high bar that the statute and regulations provide is being met. A hearing is due, in any case, because of the increasing number of allegations of improper ICE raids throughout the country and the resulting litigation.

I appreciate your attention to this matter. Please let me know if I can provide any additional details.

Sincerely,

Eleanor Holmes Norton