Democrats Urge Watchdog Probe of DOJ Immigration Enforcement

Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee are pushing a government watchdog to investigate how the Trump administration’s use of Justice Department personnel in immigration enforcement has affected criminal investigations, including efforts to combat narcotics and human trafficking.

Top committee Democrat Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and others on the panel on Wednesday asked the Government Accountability Office to review the Department of Homeland Security’s delegation of immigration enforcement powers to several DOJ agencies, including the US Marshals Service; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Bureau of Prisons.

“We are concerned that by granting immigration enforcement authority to these law enforcement employees and deprioritizing criminal investigations, these law enforcement personnel no longer have the capacity to conduct the important criminal investigations work they were hired to do,” they wrote, citing efforts to combat the trafficking of guns, narcotics, and people, investigate crimes against children, and provide security in courts and prisons.

The request is the latest effort by Democrats, who are the minority party in both the House and the Senate, to oversee President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. GAO reviews government programs and actions at the request of lawmakers in majority and minority parties, though it doesn’t agree to take up every request.

Attorney General Pam Bondi defended DOJ law enforcement officers’ involvement in immigration enforcement during an October Senate hearing, saying agents “are out there keeping Americans safe and getting illegal aliens out of our country, many of whom have committed violent crimes in this country.”

Democrats asked GAO to review which federal law enforcement agencies have been delegated immigration enforcement authorities, what functions the agencies perform, how many employees have been reassigned to focus on immigration, and how the focus has affected the work of DOJ and DHS investigative agencies, including the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations.

Homeland Security Committee members Lou Correa (Calif.), Seth Magaziner (R.I.), Nellie Pou (N.J.), and James Walkinshaw (Va.) also signed the letter.