Republicans are making menacing threats against a trio of Democratic lawmakers who visited an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility to conduct routine oversight, saying the three could face censure, expulsion from Congress, and even be arrested, in the latest sign that Republicans are descending into fascism in President Donald Trump’s second term.
On Tuesday night, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused the three Democratic lawmakers—New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, LaMonica McIver, and Robert Menendez Jr.—of committing "felonies" at the ICE facility in New Jersey, when in fact it was the ICE agents who provoked the scene by arresting Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
“We had members of Congress assaulting law enforcement officers. They were cooperating with criminals to create criminal acts, and then they’re saying that they were providing oversight. This wasn't oversight. This was committing felonies,” Noem said in an appearance on Fox News.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson also said last week that arresting the three Democrats was “on the table.”
Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia introduced legislation to kick the three lawmakers off of their committees. His legislation is likely an effort to boost his Trumpian bona fides as he runs for the GOP Senate nomination in Georgia, to take on Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff next November.
And House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that House Republicans could go further by possibly expelling the three lawmakers from Congress because they visited the ICE facility.
“It's pretty clear that the law was violated,” Johnson said at a news conference on Capitol Hill. “You might've noticed the Wisconsin judge that was trying to conceal the illegal alien … I’m told that she'll be facing potentially six years in jail and $350,000 in fines because she obstructed the proceedings, obstructed justice. … So look, what these House Democrats did is in that same lane, the same vein, of what the judge is being indicted for. So I think there’s some legal ramifications to play out here."
Of course, the Democratic lawmakers were legally allowed to enter the ICE facility for oversight, but they were being blocked by the ICE officers at the facility. The situation escalated when ICE then arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, leading to the chaotic confrontation. Eventually, the lawmakers were allowed to enter for their oversight tour.
The Democratic lawmakers being targeted for their ICE visit said as much.
“We have no idea what they have in mind, other than to create an environment of intimidation just by claiming that perhaps we might be subject to arrest,” Watson Coleman told CNN. “Nothing happened other than the chaos that they created themselves.”
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka
Ultimately, Republicans are big mad that Democrats are trying to call attention to the injustices in Trump and the GOP's immigration agenda, and thus are accusing Democrats of performing stunts. Of course, Republicans love themselves an immigration stunt.
Noem has been dressing up in costume and traveling the globe to make herself seem like a big, scary immigration cop. She and other GOP members of Congress have been visiting the Salvadoran prison that Trump has deported immigrants to without due process, creating their own version of torture porn in the process.
Democrats called out that hypocrisy at a Wednesday hearing on Capitol Hill, where Noem was testifying about the DHS budget.
"Secretary Noem, I'm glad you found time among your many photo ops and costume changes to testify about why President Trump is seeking more taxpayer dollars," Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi said sarcastically.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, made a similar jab at ICE Barbie.
“I’m a former prosecutor. I have put people away for life sentences who are gang members. I don’t need to wear costumes to show how tough I am. What makes me different from you is when I put those people away, I did it with the weight of the law behind me,” Swalwell said at the hearing.
Ouch.
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