Democratic US Senate candidates Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico addressed the hostile actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and called for the impeachment of US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem during a Saturday debate.
Hours after ICE agents killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti on Saturday morning in Minneapolis, Minnesota, two Democratic US Senate candidates expressed concern for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s activities during a primary debate.
US Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Dallas) and State Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) called for overhauling the federal agency.
“We need to clean house from top to bottom,” Crockett said. “ This is the fifth highest funded military force in the entire world, and what are they doing? They’re killing people in the middle of the street.”
On Friday, Crockett voted “no” to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill, which included an additional $28 billion for ICE.
“ There was no way I was going to continue to pump a historic amount of money into this rogue organization that is going out and is violating people’s rights every single day in American cities,” she said.
During Saturday’s debate, she said that immigration agents are “turning us into Nazi Germany” and “going after people because of their accent or the color of their skin.”
Pretti’s death marks the second killing at the hands of ICE agents in Minnesota this year. On January 7, Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother, was also shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.
“ICE shot a mother in the face, ICE kidnapped a five-year old boy, ICE executed a man in broad daylight on our streets just this morning,” Talarico said. ”We need comprehensive immigration reform in this country, and we need to remake this broken immigration system in our own image.”
Both Crockett and Talarico called for the impeachment of US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who oversees the federal agency.
Talarico has also been outspoken on prosecuting ICE agents.
“We have to haul these masked men before Congress so the world can see their faces,” Talarico said. “We should be cracking down on the cartels, not our communities. We should be prosecuting gang members, not small business owners. We should be hunting down human traffickers, not moms and babies.”
Crockett introduces ‘Track ICE Act’
Last week, Crockett introduced the “Transparency Requirements for Aircraft Carriers to Know Immigration Conduct and Enforcement Act,” or the TRACK ICE Act.
The legislation would make it easier to track detention and deportation flights commissioned by the federal government and mandate new transparency disclosures for potential detainees.
It also requires comprehensive data to be released within 72 hours of any immigration enforcement flights, prohibits aircraft operators from hiding their tracking data while on federal missions, and requires disclosure of the condition and restraints used on detained individuals.
“ I’ve had too many people call my office and not know where their loved ones are,” she said. “I have too many people that don’t know whether or not they are safe, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t know that we can ever say that they’re going to be safe.”
Crockett also addressed the story of five-year-old boy and father detained by immigration enforcement agents in Minnesota, who are now being held at the South Texas Family Detention Center in Dilley, roughly 70 miles southwest of San Antonio.
She said she plans on visiting the Dilley Detention Center on Wednesday to conduct oversight and demand answers on the whereabouts and wellbeing of the child.
Abolishing ICE
When asked whether either candidate would support the idea of abolishing ICE, both Crockett and Talarico did not give a direct “yes” or “no” answer.
Crockett said she’s willing to do whatever it takes to clean house.
“ We absolutely have to clean house,” she said. “Whatever that looks like, I am willing to do it. Because if there are truly Proud Boys that are currently in ICE, that’s a problem.”
Talarico condemned the historic increase in funding for ICE, and said that that money should be put back into our communities.
“It’s time to tear down this secret police force and replace it with an agency that actually is gonna focus on public safety,” Talarico said.
Other Texas Democrats weigh-in
Following Pretti’s death, US Rep. Greg Casar (D-Austin) said in a social media post that at least five non-negotiable demands must be met before the DHS funding bill reaches the House:
- ICE and CBP leave Minneapolis and stops terrorizing American cities;
- We get a full, independent investigation into the killings;
- No more detaining and deporting U.S. Citizens;
- The masks come off;
- The mass arrest quotas and warrantless arrests end.
Casar also called for the impeachment of Noem for “unleashing policies that have resulted in innocent Americans getting killed” and “smearing those Americans and their families.”
Additionally, he signed a letter last week calling for an investigation into how Noem has “misused resources appropriated by Congress,” “repeatedly made false and misleading statements to Congress,” and “undermined the separation of powers.”
US Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth) said Noem must resign immediately, and US Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Dallas) said she “must be held accountable,” and that “DHS should not receive one penny of Americans’ tax dollars.”
US Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Houston) has called on Congress to rescind the $75 billion in funding that Congressional Republicans directed to ICE in President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” and “investigate, conduct oversight, and reign in the abuses we have seen throughout the Trump administration.”
