Washington, DC – This week, Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-CA) joined Congressman Lou Correa (D-CA) and 21 House Democrats in pressing U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on the alarming actions of federal agents in California, including Ventura, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties. In a letter to Secretary Noem, the Members expressed deep concerns about the Trump Administration’s lack of transparency in the agency’s recent immigration enforcement operations and activities, including the detention of individuals with no criminal record. The letter strongly condemns the administration’s overreach and demands immediate transparency.
“President Trump initially promised to go after the worst of the worst in his immigration policy,” wrote the Members. “However the actions of this administration and your DHS show you are not interested in arresting dangerous criminals like murderers, rapists, and drug dealers. Instead, you are sending masked individuals who do not identify themselves as law enforcement to arrest college and high school students, restaurant workers, factory workers, and even American children.”
“This administration refuses to provide accurate details around what criminal record, if any, DHS components use to justify the arrest of an individual,” wrote the members.
A recent analysis by the Los Angeles Times found that 69% of individuals detained by ICE had no criminal convictions. In their letter, the Members demanded DHS to provide immediate and accurate information on their immigration enforcement activities, including:
- A breakdown of criminal charges and convictions of people detained since January 20, 2025
- Number of deported individuals and their criminal offenses
- How many individuals have proven ties to gangs, foreign terrorist organizations, or criminal enterprises
- DHS arrest policy
- How agents and officers identify themselves when approaching an individual to detain
- Arresting officers’ training
- If arresting officers are federal agents.
Earlier this year, Brownley also contacted DHS to express concerns about ICE actions in the community, but ICE has thus far refused to answer questions or provide details on its operations. Brownley continues pressing the Trump administration to adhere to DHS’ mission and act “with honor and integrity to safeguard the American people, our homeland, and our values.”
The letter was also signed by Representatives Val Hoyle (D-OR), Henry C. “Hank” Johnson (D-GA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Danny Davis (D-IL), Maxine Dexter (D-OR), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), John Garamendi (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Raul Ruiz (D-CA), Andre Carson (D-IN), Darren Soto (D-FL), Eleanor Norton (D-DC), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), Timothy Kennedy (D-NY), and Brittany Pettersen (D-CO).
The full letter can be found here and below:
The Honorable Kristi Noem
Secretary
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528
Secretary Noem:
We write to express serious concern with this administration’s chilling actions of rounding up and arresting individuals with no criminal history and doing so without the transparency as to why the individuals are being arrested. The lack of accountability and transparency from this administration is of grave concern to the citizens of this country. Not only are Members of Congress concerned with the lack of transparency, accountability, and its immigration actions, but the majority of the American people do not agree with this administration’s actions either.
President Trump initially promised to go after the worst of the worst in his immigration policy. Similarly, you recently went on Fox News and claimed you were going after the worst of the worst. However, the actions of this administration and your DHS show you are not focused on arresting dangerous criminals like murderers, rapists and drug dealers. Instead, you are sending masked individuals who do not identify themselves as law enforcement to arrest college and high school students, restaurant workers, factory workers, and even American children, some of whom have cancer which is beyond heartless. The scope of your enforcement activities has grown so large to include migrant workers and tourists with visas, that you are unable to effectively focus on arresting dangerous criminals, which makes our country less safe.
Even though President Trump has finally acknowledged his immigration policies are harming individuals and businesses, particularly farmers, and those in the hotel and leisure business which is further damaging our once strong economy – we fear this administration will not learn from their mistakes. White House officials have said they hope U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can scale up to 3,000 arrests a day, from approximately 660 during the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. Since these numbers cannot be achieved without arresting non-criminals, it appears this administration will continue arresting hardworking individuals who pose no threat to our communities. It also appears this is why DHS has eliminated any transparency efforts regarding migrant arrests. For an administration that claims to be the most transparent in history, you have contributed to being the least transparent this country has ever seen.
This administration refuses to provide accurate data and details around what criminal record, if any, DHS components use to justify the arrest of an individual. After President Trump took office DHS stopped issuing detailed statistical reports on immigration enforcement, which makes it challenging to gauge the scope of your immigration crackdown.
Since your administration will not provide transparent data, we must piecemeal different data sources to get an accurate picture of DHS’s enforcement efforts. For example, we look at The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse – a project from Syracuse University that compiles immigration figures – which estimates that of the 51,302 people in ICE detention facilities as of June 1, about 44% had no criminal record aside from entering the US without permission. News outlets also report ICE detention statistics show the number of detainees arrested by ICE with no other criminal charges or convictions rose from about 860 in January to 7,800 this month – a more than 800% increase.
And if we look at recent events and updates from ICE, the unnecessary and harmful immigration raids in Los Angeles saw the immigration arrests of 118 people, which DHS said included five gang members. While the agency has identified a handful of people with criminal histories, due to DHS refusing to provide more transparent details of their actions, it’s unclear how many of the 118 individuals have criminal histories.
Sadly, this administration’s credibility is so badly damaged we cannot simply rely on the words coming from a DHS spokesperson or yourself that this administration is targeting the worst of the worst. The fact this administration has repeatedly misrepresented migrants’ criminal histories, lied to the American people by photoshopping gang tattoos on the body of individual they were illegally detaining, and having to reluctantly admit to clerical errors and software errors that resulted in arrests and deportations of migrants with no criminal history, we in Congress and the American people cannot trust the administration’s word that they are doing what they say. President Trump and his administration leadership have eroded the trust of the American people and Congress, and we must request all necessary pieces of information to get a truthful picture of your immigration enforcement activities.
Therefore, given these concerns we request the following information by July 18, 2025:
- A breakdown of the criminal charges and convictions migrants that have been arrested and detained by a DHS component from January 20, 2025 to date.
- Of these individuals how many have been deported since January? Please provide a breakdown of their criminal offenses by category.
- How many of the individuals have been found by a court to have proven ties, not alleged ties without proof, to criminal enterprises, gangs, or Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO)?
- What is the policy DHS components follow when deciding to arrest an individual? How are agents and officers deciding who to detain and arrest in public?
- How are agents and officers identifying themselves when they approach an individual to detain and or arrest in the streets?
- What type of training do arresting officers have?
- Are the arresting officers federal agents?
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We must remind you of the DHS mission statement which is “With honor and integrity, we will safeguard the American people, our homeland, and our values.” It seems you have forgotten this, and we truly hope you reverse course and start leading with integrity and honor while working to keep us safe.
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Issues: 119th Congress, Immigration