Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) introduces impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, backed by 102 House Democrats, citing obstruction of Congress, $200M in questionable ICE ad spending, and fears of enforcement targeting Chicagoans—including undocumented immigrants and citizens—due to ICE’s actions. She opposes Biden’s potential Greenland purchase and questions Venezuela policy, calling for refugee aid over military intervention. Rep. Matt Van Epps (R-TN), a former Army special ops pilot, counters by defending ICE’s crime reduction efforts in Memphis, noting 70% of detainees have convictions, and blames Biden’s border policies while linking Trump’s tariffs to $1,625 annual cost increases for American families. The clash underscores deep divides over immigration enforcement, economic priorities, and executive accountability amid rising public skepticism. [Automatically generated summary]
She's not letting us perform our oversight duties.
She has prevented us from going to detention centers.
My colleagues and I have followed what she said to the letter of the law.
I know when we tried to go to Broadview in Illinois, we did what she said, and then she still prevented us from coming into the facility.
And then she's violating the public trust, picking up people seemingly picked on based on what they look like.
No warrants, no due process.
She's definitely violating the public trust, just yanking people off the streets.
They're taking people out of cars, and then self-dealing.
She has spent $200 million of taxpayer money advertising for new ICE agents, and that money is going to a friend of hers.
And so it seems like that friend just developed that agency a few days or less than a week before that grant money became available, $200 million of taxpayers' money.
And we're still questioning who are the people behind the mask.
Many of us think, I know I think, that at least some of them are the insurrectionists that Donald Trump let out of jail.
Now, there are some of your Democratic colleagues oppose this move.
Democratic Representative Bishop of Georgia said, he's quoted as saying, quote, we've got so many things that the Congress has yet to do, and I'd hate to see us get distracted with side issues.
I know the main thing is affordability, and I know the main thing is health care.
I'm very clear on that.
But actually, when I think about what's happening in Chicago, it is affecting affordability and people's bottom line because so many people are afraid to go to work.
So that hurts their bottom line.
So many people are afraid to go shopping, afraid to go to restaurants.
So that hurts the bottom line of the economics of a community because people are afraid to go out.
They're even afraid, we've heard stories, afraid to go get health care when they're sick because they're afraid to be picked up.
These are undocumented and American citizens that are saying that.
So affordability is involved with Christy Noam and her reign of terror also.
And switching topics now to Greenland, are you in favor of any kind of a resolution to limit the president's abilities to either try to purchase Greenland or to pursue military action there?
Yes, we are filing an amendment so that he cannot either buy Greenland or attack Greenland.
You know, as we just talked about, there's an affordability problem in this country, and he's talking about buying another country and then running another country when you speak about Venezuela.
So we need to pay attention to this country because of the things happening here.
And plus, you know, a big issue was made about defunding police, but very few members of Congress even mentioned that, but it got blown up more than was actually mentioned in my opinion.
But no, I don't think the public is concerned about what ICE is doing and the money that they're receiving.
So I think the public is on our side.
They don't want to see our taxpayer money going to people attacking undocumented plus U.S. citizens.
Well, I don't think that, you know, Maduro is a bad president.
He shouldn't even have been the president.
But I don't think we can become the world's police and take out every person we consider to be a bad president.
A lot of people consider Donald Trump to be a bad president.
I don't want people coming and yanking him out of office.
You know, I don't think that was the right move.
And there's other things that we could do.
We've never seen any proof that the ships they bombed were actually carrying drugs.
So I just think we cannot become the world's police, even though yes, I totally agree that he was a bad guy.
He wasn't doing the right thing.
I feel very sorry for his people and sorry for the Venezuelans that felt like they had to leave their own country and let's help them, you know, those that are coming to the border, let's help them.
Instead of going to the country for oil, I would add not really for the right reasons that he, well, he didn't claim that.
He said oil and that we're going to run that country when we need to look at our own country and what's going on here.
Well, ICE is executing an incredibly critical mission, and we have to stand with our law enforcement.
We've got to stand, that's how I was raised.
I served in the U.S. Army, was a special operations helicopter pilot.
Our men and women in uniform are doing incredible work for our country to protect our communities, to keep us safe.
And when we look at Tennessee, we see a really great example of ICE and other federal assets that have gone into Memphis that are working with state and local leaders to keep the community safe.
Crime is down there, and it's a really great example of that mission being executed.
And we've got to protect our law enforcement as they do a really critical job to protect us and our communities.
When we look back under the Biden administration, we had four years of failed policies at a totally porous border that allowed criminals to come into our country.
And now ICE and other federal assets, in conjunction with state and local leaders and law enforcement, are conducting missions that are critically important.
I mean, we look at the number of people who have criminal records, over 70% of those detained have pending or current convictions or pending charges in the United States.
And those are the ones that we know about.
Just this past weekend, we saw two folks detained, one from Laos, one from Guatemala, who had charges criminal homicide and others.
And so it is critical that we execute this mission.
It's both the safety and security of our families.
I want my family and the families of those who are watching to be safe, to be able to go to lunch and dinner and go to church and do that in a way that is safe and they feel secure.
You know, I think the other really important piece here, too, is that those criminals coming across our border, again, with just a porous open border under Biden that the Trump administration has fixed, but those folks are using safety net resources that should be going to Americans.