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Jan. 23, 2026 15:24-15:42 - CSPAN
17:57
Washington Journal Rep. Adriano Espaillat D-NY
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ICE's Violent Impact 00:15:17
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Joining us from New York this morning is Congressman Adriano Espayat.
He is the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Thank you so much for being with us, sir, as always.
Let's start with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
What role are you playing in the debate over ICE actions?
Thank you.
Thank you for having me first and foremost, Greta.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, as you know, is a 43-member entity, which includes four U.S. senators, that has been at the forefront of the entire immigration debate.
We have developed a strategy of confronting that budgetarily and legislatively, also to look at possibilities to act upon some of those actions in the courtrooms across the country, and finally trying to formulate public sentiment around what is going on with ICE and immigration in general.
In fact, one of our members, Senator Alex Padilla, very early on, was, I believe, assaulted by ICE in California, thrown up against the wall, thrown slammed on the floor.
The entire country saw what happened.
This was very early on when the debate began to heat up.
But now we're in the courtrooms.
We have been involved with gaining access to the detention centers, preventing the IRS from sharing confidential tax information of Americans, as well as holding the airlines accountable from selling passenger data to ICE.
We have been involved in several court cases.
We are currently debating and putting together a comprehensive ICE legislation that will be introduced in the next couple of weeks.
That will be, I think, a roadmap for the rest of the Democratic conference to follow.
Yesterday in the House, a measure to fund the Homeland Security Department and ICE was approved 220 to 207.
Seven Democrats joined all the Republicans to approve it.
The majority of Democrats, including you, oppose the measure.
Why?
We feel that ICE is a runaway train, that it has become an aggressive and violent weapon.
In fact, a deadly weapon.
We saw what happened in Minnesota with the killing of Renee Good.
We've seen their aggressive tactics, pulling women out of vehicles, slamming them on the floor.
In fact, if you take a look at it, the level of arrest of immigrants has gone up 2,450%.
And 92% of those in ICE custody today are folks that have no criminal record.
How do you know that number?
Where does that number come from?
Well, the data is there.
And we know that, in fact, most of the people stopped by ICE.
We visited the detention centers themselves.
I personally have visited them and spoken to the people held in custody there.
And what it shows is that the president lied to us.
He said he was going to arrest violent criminals.
And in fact, what he's doing is he's stopping and arresting people that have no criminal conviction.
In fact, within those folks, over 100 people that have been stopped, questioned, detained are U.S. citizens.
And so this is a runaway train.
ICE should be dismantled.
We should have a deep discussion about the future of the agency so that it has a human face.
Take a look at a recent poll that was conducted by YouGov when they asked the question, eliminate ICE as a federal agency.
42% said that they strongly or somewhat support that idea.
45% said they somewhat or strongly oppose that idea.
So it would appear Americans are split on this question of abolishing ICE.
And some on the left warn that the cries for defunding the police from a few years back went too far and cost Democrats some elections.
Are you concerned about the political fallout on calling for the abolishment of ICE?
Well, in fact, those numbers show that the American public is leaning now in our direction.
And we're asking for dismantling ICE, which means let's take it apart.
Anything that's not working should be taken apart and should be made better.
And so right now, the violent behavior and culture that is gripping ICE is unacceptable.
And the vast majority, over 54% of the American people, feel that ICE is going in the wrong direction.
They feel it is too aggressive.
And so let's take a look at it.
Should ICE officers be masked?
Should they be anonymous without a first name and a last name, no shield number?
Will you open your door to someone that's masked and you don't know whether they are in fact an ICE agent or somebody that may want to harm you?
Where are they recruiting these officers?
Are they being trained properly?
Do they have the mental fitness to do the job?
Is there aggressive, do they have to carry high-caliber weapons?
Immigration is a civil law issue.
It's not a criminal law matter.
And so these are all legitimate questions that we must debate as the American people continue to lose faith in an agency that blatantly and openly and visibly, you see it every day, are being very aggressive and assaulting and shooting people across America.
So we're very concerned that this is happening and that it's happening to people that have not committed a crime, that are just providing for their families.
And that in fact, the president lied to us when he said that he was just going to round up the bad guys, criminals.
In fact, he's rounding up everyday residents and Americans.
And we're appalled about that.
Congressman, is it a crime to be in the United States without proper documentation?
It's a civil law matter.
It's not a criminal law matter.
And as such, in fact, immigrants are not automatically entitled to free or legal services because the matter is a civil law matter.
If you break the law while you're here, then obviously it's a criminal law matter.
And we're not saying that if you are a violent person that has committed and be found guilty or committed a violent crime, that you should not be held to the letter of the law.
What we're saying is that most of the people, 92% of the people in ICE custody right now, have not committed a crime and have not been found guilty of a criminal matter.
Let's get to calls.
Catherine, New Jersey, Democratic Collard, you are up first for the congressman.
Good morning, Greta.
Happy New Year to everybody.
Representative, I wanted to know when did ICE start to wear masks?
And because they're wearing masks, I think they're doing things that they wouldn't normally do.
So if you could answer that question and thank you for your service up there and keep up the good fight.
Good day.
Thank you so much.
Well, yesterday we met with former Secretary Mayorkas and he told us that that wasn't the policy of the agency when he was there.
That this is an aberration, a departure from the normal.
That in fact, you know, law, law-abiding and agencies across the country, police departments, state law enforcement agencies, for the most part, if not in its entirety, do not wear a mask.
When you see a police officer, even detectives, for example, in the New York City Police Department, involving very complicated cases and maybe even violent cases, do not wear a mask.
They have a first name, a last name, a shield number, and they knock on your door and they show their credentials.
By the way, this helps build confidence between law enforcement and our communities.
Right now, ICE is an anonymous agency, and as such, because it is anonymous, because it's under the radar, is committing very violent, and I would dare to say illegal acts.
Listen to Vice President JD Vance in Minneapolis yesterday in support of ICE agents.
Guys behind me are doing an incredible job.
And frankly, a lot of the media is lying about the job that they do every single day.
Now, it doesn't mean that there aren't occasionally stories out there, there aren't occasionally videos out there that suggest that these guys, or at least some of the people who work for them, are not doing everything right.
But very often, if you look at the context of what's going on, you understand that these people are under an incredible amount of duress, an incredible amount of chaos.
And because of a few very far-left agitators, a lot of these guys are unable to do their jobs without being harassed, without being doxxed, and sometimes without being assaulted.
That's totally unacceptable.
And that's one of the things that I want to send a message to: yes, come out and protest, protest me, protest our immigration policy, but do it peacefully.
If you assault a law enforcement officer, the Trump administration and the Department of Justice is going to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.
Congressman, your reaction.
The protest has been, for the most part, peaceful.
In fact, the ICE behavior, I think, is provoking in some ways people to get violent or to react so that then the narrative could change.
The reality is that 42 people, 35 people last year and seven already this year, have died while in ICE custody or at the hands of ICE agents.
This is what's happening right now.
This is not rocket science.
We see it for what it is.
We see it every day.
A sitting U.S. senator, yesterday, a five-year-old child.
Before that, a woman was dragged out of her car and slammed on the floor.
Prior to that, Renee Goode was shot in the face.
We've seen that across the country, but particularly in Minnesota and in Chicago.
I went to Chicago, ICE agents lurking around schools.
Sensitive locations are no longer respected.
Houses of worship.
You could be praying in a house of worship and ICE could come in and raid it.
Hospitals, schools.
This is the state of affairs in America.
And we feel that this agency is a runaway train and it should be dismantled.
Terry's next.
Canton, North Carolina, Republican.
Yes, thank you for letting me talk.
Representative, number one, we wouldn't be in this situation if your party hadn't let 20 million illegal aliens into this country over the last four years.
But in the situation where we are right now, the country and the affordability and the health care, that I look at it as you care more for somebody from another country than the citizens that make your paycheck.
You're a disgusting human.
All right, Terry, Terry, Terry.
Let's just take his point, Congressman, about spending more money and resources on illegal immigrants versus U.S. citizens.
Well, the fact of the matter is that yesterday, Congress voted to appropriate $11 billion towards ICE.
Prior to that, back when we did the other bill, we appropriated $45 billion to ICE.
Put it in on steroids.
And that money is coming from somewhere.
And it will impact the American people in a negative way.
That's the money that would otherwise be used for health care.
That's the money that is now being used by the current administration to provide a handsome tax cut for billionaires and millionaires.
So this money doesn't grow on trees.
When you give $11 billion, as we did yesterday, unfortunately, I voted against that bill.
Or when you give $45 billion to ICE, that money is coming from somewhere and you're denying the American people the basic services that they deserve.
Health care, of course, education.
And what you're doing, in essence, is providing the conditions for a very handsome tax cut for the very rich.
So if anybody has benefited from this, has been rich Americans.
Immigrants work.
They pay taxes.
They contribute to our economy.
No major chapter of history where you've seen economic growth in America has occurred without the presence of immigrant labor.
You look at the history books and you'll see down the line that anytime America has done well and the economy has flourished, immigrant labor has been there.
And so I think we're blaming the victims here.
And we're saying that most people, 92% of the people that are being stopped, handcuffed, detained, arrested, and deported by ICE, are law-abiding immigrants that are contributing to the economy and providing for their families and have not committed a crime.
Undocumented vs. Illegal Aliens 00:02:16
Mary Lou in New Jersey, Independent.
Morning, Greta, and good morning, Congressman.
I want to address what the man from North Carolina was talking about.
The thing that bothers me, Congressman, whenever the Democrats want to put something across to the American people, they take a situation and even though it's wrong or bad, they sugarcoat it.
For example, you are calling these people undocumented migrants when in reality, sir, they are ill legal aliens.
Now, you don't want to use the word illegal because that suggests wrongdoing.
So you call them undocumented migrants.
If people are in this country and they should not be, they need to be deported, sir.
And they are showing pictures on television of the ones specifically that ICE is going after, the ones that are committing serious crimes like murder, rape, whatever.
And what people don't understand, and you often say mistakenly, you say these people that come into the country illegally do not get benefits.
Trust me, sir, I know for a fact that they do.
All right, Mary Lou, a lot there.
Congressman, start with her point, her argument about undocumented versus illegal.
Well, the only aliens that I know about come from Mars, not from any other part of the world.
What about the qualifier?
Illegal versus U.S. citizen?
No, listen, I tell you that 170 U.S. citizens have been wrongfully detained at rays by ICE.
20 of them have been held in communicator from their families or an attorney.
So this is no longer a matter that pertains to undocumented green car holders, TPS recipients, DACA recipients.
Profiling in America 00:00:52
This now pertains very much to American people that look a certain way.
And there is racial and ethnic profiling going on.
If you look, I am sure that if you and I were to go out on the street, I will get stopped before you do.
And there is profiling going on on a regular basis across America.
And as a result of that, 170 U.S. citizens have been detained.
I went to visit a family in Monterey, Mexico, with four U.S.-born children, including a 10-year-old little girl with a severe cancerous brain tumor that must get treatment in Houston, Texas, and has been denied that because they all got deported.
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