DeLauro in ICE Budget Hearing: “These agencies are in dire need of serious reform”
WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) delivered the following remarks during an Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security hearing on the budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS):
Thank Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Cuellar. And I want to welcome our witnesses this morning and thank you for being here.
I want to begin by noting the absurdity of holding a hearing on funding for these agencies when Republican leadership has openly decided to pursue a partisan funding process outside of the Appropriations Committee.
Slush-funding the government through a series of partisan budget bills that are written in back rooms by Republican leadership driven only by political interest is a recipe for catastrophe.
My colleagues across the aisle have loudly hailed the work we were able to accomplish in passing 11 of the 12 Appropriations bills. They are right to do so! It is the important and yes it is difficult work of governing, that’s what governing is about, but the very fact that it is difficult ensures it will endure.
Abandoning the Appropriations process in favor of partisan reconciliation bills will come back to haunt this institution. If we go down this road there is a cliff at the end. I strongly encourage my colleagues not to do this.
The most direct reason that the entire Department of Homeland Security is still shut down after more than 60 days is because Republican leadership refuse to pass the bill that the United States Senate unanimously passed twice, they agreed to this. We have the Congress, both House and Senate, you get unanimous consent – we can’t get unanimous consent to say the sky is blue, but you have twice voted in the Senate on a unanimous consent basis. They have passed it twice, now it is still being blocked.
They are blocking this bill because they will not allow any funding for the Department of Homeland Security to move forward unless it also includes funding for ICE and CBP, without any new protections against misconduct that the American people are demanding, they are demanding these protections. But these agencies are in dire need of serious reform to build back public trust that has been lost.
We have all seen the footage of the brutal and senseless killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. We have seen our cities terrorized, communities afraid and terrorized by ICE and CBP.
Forty-four detainees have died in ICE custody since President Trump took office, including 25 in this fiscal year alone. That is a 20-year high for an agency that was only formed in 2003.
In January of this year, ICE violated nearly 100 federal court orders, which the chief federal judge in the state of Minnesota estimated was more violations than some federal agencies have committed during their entire existence.
Law enforcement in Minnesota is investigating two ICE officers for kidnapping, false imprisonment after they kicked in the door of an American citizen, without a warrant, forced him outside at gunpoint, threw him in the back of their car, and then drove him around until they realized they had nothing to charge him with.
ICE officers in Minnesota tear gassed a family on their way home from a basketball game, which caused their 6-month-old daughter’s heart to stop beating before she was rushed to the hospital.
A detention officer at an ICE facility recently pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a detainee over the course of several months in 2025.
There is an ongoing investigation into two immigration officers for potentially lying under oath after they shot a Venezuelan man in the leg.
And Cuban man died by homicide due to excessive force at an ICE run facility in El Paso.
I could go on, but I trust I have made my point.
It is abundantly clear that significant reforms are needed. I have been very clear on my own position. We need border security. I do not favor abolishing ICE. But significant reforms are needed.
This is the United States of America. Officers should be required to get a warrant from a judge before they kick in someone’s door. Agents should not be able to hide their faces and conceal their identities from the public to evade accountability for misconduct. American citizens should not be detained and deported. And when there are cases of misconduct, there should be mandatory independent investigations.
I understand that reforming these agencies will be the product of lengthy negotiations. I understand that negotiating is hard work. I understand it can be tempting to just give up, try to go it alone. But I promise you that is not a sustainable or responsible way to govern.
I encourage Republican leadership to stop blocking the bill that passed the Senate unanimously twice so we can fund the vast majority of the Department of Homeland Security – FEMA, TSA, Coast Guard, cybersecurity, Secret Service while we continue to negotiate with regard to ICE. I encourage my Republican colleagues to join us in the difficult work of forging agreements, rather than abandoning the process in favor of a strictly partisan path.
Thank you and I yield back.
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