Overview
- House Democrats held a Minority Day hearing Wednesday that most Republicans skipped, and the White House immigration advisers they invited, Stephen Miller and Tom Homan, did not appear.
- Marimar Martinez, a Chicago teacher shot five times by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum in October, showed her scars, said DHS labeled her a “domestic terrorist,” and noted the federal charges against her were later dropped.
- Rev. David Black told lawmakers ICE officers shot him in the face with pepper-ball rounds during a prayer protest outside a suburban Chicago facility and said agents mocked demonstrators online afterward.
- Democrats linked their refusal to pass more money for ICE and CBP to two January killings by federal officers in Minneapolis, a move that has kept parts of DHS closed since mid-February.
- Leadership turnover at the department continues as ICE acting head Todd Lyons plans to leave at the end of May and the Senate has confirmed former Oklahoma senator Markwayne Mullin to lead DHS.