Washington, D.C. – The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) leadership released the following statement in response to passage of the DHS funding bill:
“The House on Thursday voted to fund a Department of Homeland Security that has lost all sense of its original mission. DHS first turned against immigrants and then, inevitably, against Americans who oppose President Trump trampling the Constitution.
Across detention centers nationwide, there is documented evidence of physical abuse, medical neglect, and inhumane conditions inflicted on people who have received no due process. ICE is also detaining children, including a documented case in which a five-year-old boy was taken into custody.
Under the Trump administration, ICE has been responsible for 43 deaths to date, at least five of which were murders, including one by an off-duty agent. These outcomes are the direct result of an agency allowed to operate without meaningful oversight or accountability.
DHS and its components, particularly ICE and the Border Patrol, are already supercharged through Trump’s Big, Ugly Bill. Thursday’s funding bill will only delay the urgently needed congressional oversight required to stop the abuses committed under Secretary Noem.
But make no mistake, we will take the reins of this runaway agency and there will be accountability for its excesses.”
About the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC)
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) is 43 members strong. The CHC serves as a forum for the Hispanic Members of Congress to coalesce around a collective legislative agenda. The Caucus is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. For more information, please visit chc.house.gov.