Immediate Investigation Demanded: ICE’s $100 Million Hiring Scheme

I am demanding an immediate, public investigation into Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s newly announced $100 million hiring scheme. This expenditure is not just reckless—it is indefensible. If Congress claims there is no money for a living wage for American workers, no money to adequately fund our public schools, no money for affordable housing, and no money to guarantee healthcare as a basic human right, then there is certainly no justification for funneling $100 million into expanding an agency with a documented history of abuse, misconduct, and preventable deaths in custody. This is not a budgeting issue. This is a priorities issue. ICE has repeatedly demonstrated an inability—or unwillingness—to operate within the bounds of the law and basic human decency. People have died in its custody. Families have been torn apart. Due process has been ignored. Oversight has been evaded. And yet, instead of accountability, reform, or restraint, this agency is being rewarded with massive new funding. That is unacceptable. Congress controls the purse strings. Congress has oversight authority. Congress is responsible for ensuring taxpayer dollars are not used to expand harm while Americans are told to accept poverty wages, crumbling schools, and medical bankruptcy as “fiscal reality.” You cannot credibly tell working families to tighten their belts while approving nine-figure expansions of a law enforcement agency that has failed to earn public trust. This $100 million must be frozen immediately pending a full investigation that includes: • The legal authority for this hiring scheme • The source of the funds • The intended use of personnel • ICE’s track record of compliance with civil rights and due process • Why accountability and reform were not prerequisites for funding If Congress refuses to act, then it is complicit. The American people are watching. We see exactly whose lives are being invested in—and whose are being written off. Do your job. Investigate this. Stop it. Reclaim your authority.