‘Betrayed by their country’: House Democrats hear sympathetic voices of DHS’ deportation targets

Democratic lawmakers on Thursday bolstered their demand for stricter rules for ICE agents by hosting advocates for illegal immigrants and people caught up in President Trump’s mass deportations.

Congressional Democrats are calling for “guardrails” on the federal immigration agents, such as a ban on masks and requiring judicial warrants to enter homes of illegal immigrants, or else they will block funding and shut down the Department of Homeland Security at midnight Friday.

At an event at the Capitol, they heard from vocal critics of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Antonio Romanucci, the family attorney of Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman killed by immigration officers last month, said DHS policies must reflect “the values and rights afforded to the American people in our Constitution,” he said.

“Clients, friends and people from all walks of life tell me they feel betrayed by their country and our Constitution when it becomes clear that there is not the same avenue to justice available when a federal officer causes harm or violates them or their loved ones,” he said.

Nayna Gupta, the policy director of the American Immigration Council, said the administration is the one breaking the law and violating the Constitution.

“The Trump administration insists it’s going after the worst of the worst, but it is the administration itself that is engaged in unlawful behavior,” Ms. Gupta said. “There aren’t enough immigrants with serious criminal records to hit the White House’s deportation goals, so tens of thousands are locked up despite posing no safety threat.”

Alejandro Barranco defended his immigrant father, Narciso Barranco, who he said was violently targeted by federal agents last June despite not committing any crimes.

Mr. Barranco and his two brothers are all U.S. Marines.

“My father is not a threat. He is a working man who spent decades doing everything this country asks of you: work hard, keep your head down, provide for your family and contribute to your community,” he said. “Let me be clear, what happened to my father did not just happen to an immigrant, it happened to the father of U.S. Marines, and it happened to an American family.”

Rev. Anthony Galloway, a pastor in Minnesota, said he was targeted by ICE while helping to shield members of the community, including Somali migrants who have been targeted after a massive Medicaid fraud scandal in the community.

“This is not a request to litigate immigration policy — it is a moral appeal. Are we a nation that condones violence for political gain or are we a nation that chooses mercy over fear and power?” he said. “I would hate to meet my maker, and when asked how I made the world better, my answer was that I ripped children from their home, broke the jaws of elders, dragged Somali girls on the ground or shot citizens observing their aggressions.”

Kelly McCarthy, police chief of Minnesota’s Mendota Heights Police Department, said the “actions and attitudes” by some federal law enforcement have hurt the trust that was built between the police and the community.

“The use of masks, disrespectful language, excessive force and constitutional violations that we see from some agents bears no resemblance to professional policing,” Ms. McCarthy said.

She said there has been no communication between ICE officials and local law enforcement, which has led to people being “frustrated over the lack of information.”

Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed in separate confrontations with ICE agents while protesting Operation Metro Surge, the operation in Minnesota. DHS has said that over 4,000 arrests have been made of illegal immigrants since the start in December.

Trump administration border czar Tom Homan said Thursday that the remaining ICE and Border Patrol agents will be withdrawn from Minnesota, calling the operation a “great success.”

Democrats have called for extensive changes, including the use of body cameras for ICE agents, judicial warrants, stricter rules agianst excessive force, along with no face coverings.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, has said some of Democrats’ proposals are “positive starting points for further discussion,” but ones that place unnecessary restrictions on law enforcement are “nonstarters.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat, said that once Democrats are back in the majority, “we will seek a complete overhaul of these agencies and enforce accountability.”