Skip to main content

Tri-Caucus Chairs Call for Hearing on ICE & DOJ Disseminating Misleading & Inaccurate Information

April 17, 2018

Investigation Would Help to Restore Trust After Officials Allegedly Directed Spokesperson to Lie

Washington D.C. – The Congressional Tri-Caucus Chairs – composed of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chair Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Chair Judy Chu (CA-27), and the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chair Cedric Richmond (LA-02) – sent a letter to the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Trey Gowdy urging him to hold a hearing and open an investigation of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) after a whistleblower alleged that the agencies disseminated and touted misleading and inaccurate information to the press and general public after an ICE operation in California – a state that has been targeted by the Administration for its vocal opposition to Trump's immigration policies.
"It is alarming and completely unacceptable to hear reports that executive level officials at two federal agencies deceptively acted to provide deliberately fraudulent information to the public. This outright dishonest conduct is deeply concerning and damages and undermines the credibility and integrity of federal agencies across the country… Unfortunately, this is yet another example of the Trump Administration eroding the public's trust in government and pushing an anti-immigrant agenda that does not square with the facts," the Members wrote.
The Members continued: "In order to restore the public's trust in ICE and DOJ, we urge you, as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, to (1) open an investigation into the accusations made by ICE Spokesman Schwab against ICE; (2) hold a hearing to question Acting ICE Director Homan and Attorney General Sessions regarding their Oakland raid statements."
A copy of the letter can be found here.
TEXT OF LETTER
The Honorable Trey Gowdy
Chairman
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Gowdy:
We write to urge you, as Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to open an investigation into the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in response to recent allegations made by former San Francisco Division ICE spokesman, James Schwab that Acting ICE Director Tom Homan and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions disseminated and touted misleading and inaccurate information to the press and general public. These misleading comments were made following Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf's decision to warn her constituents of a scheduled ICE raid in her community in February. Mr. Schwab resigned shortly after the Oakland raid because he "couldn't bear the burden—continuing on as representative of the agency and charged with upholding integrity, knowing that information was false".
On February 25, 2018, ICE arrested 232 undocumented immigrants over a period of four days in northern California. The night before the raids took place, Oakland Mayor Schaaf warned northern California residents that ICE would conduct sweeps in the community. In the days following these raids, President Trump and Secretary Homan proceeded to criticize Mayor Schaff's actions and alleged that her warning had resulted in fewer immigrant arrests during the raid. Director Homan claimed that "864 criminal aliens and public safety threats remain at large in the community, and I have to believe that some of them were able to elude us thanks to the mayor's irresponsible decision." A few weeks after the raid, Attorney General Jeff Sessions doubled down on the misinformation and stated that "…800 wanted criminals…are now at large in that community, 800 wanted criminals that ICE will now have to pursue by other means, with more difficulty, in dangerous situations, all because of one irresponsible action." When ICE was pressed to provide the criminal histories of the 800 targeted individuals, they responded with a sample list of only ten suspects whose crimes varied from manslaughter to drunk driving.
Shortly after the raids, ICE spokesman James Schwab resigned from ICE because he was told to relay "false" or "misleading" information to the press, place blame on Mayor Schaaf and paint undocumented communities as criminals. Schwab was quoted in numerous journalistic outlets, saying "I did not feel like fabricating the truth to defend ourselves against [Schaaf's] actions was the way to go about it… We were never going to pick up that many people. To say that 100 percent are dangerous criminals on the street, or that those people were not picked up because of the misguided actions of the mayor, is wrong."
It is alarming and completely unacceptable to hear reports that executive level officials at two federal agencies deceptively acted to provide deliberately fraudulent information to the public. This outright dishonest conduct is deeply concerning and damages and undermines the credibility and integrity of federal agencies across the country. Congress and the American people expect federal agencies and our federal officials to be honest and factual when providing data and information to the public. Unfortunately, this is yet another example of the Trump Administration eroding the public's trust in government and pushing an anti-immigrant agenda that does not square with the facts.
We applaud Mr. Schwab for his many years of public service and for having the courage to step forward and denounce the actions and false statements made by Acting ICE Director Homan and Attorney General Sessions. In order to restore the public's trust in ICE and DOJ, we urge you, as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, to (1) open an investigation into the accusations made by ICE Spokesman Schwab against ICE; (2) hold a hearing to question Acting ICE Director Homan and Attorney General Sessions regarding their Oakland raid statements.
We look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,
Michelle Lujan Grisham
Chair, Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Judy Chu
Chair, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
Cedric Richmond
Chair, Congressional Black Caucus
cc: Chairman Cochran, Ranking Member Leahy, Chairman Frelinghuysen, and Ranking Member Lowey
###
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), founded in December 1976, is organized as a Congressional Member organization, governed under the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. The CHC is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Territories.