Concerns regarding law enforcement personnel from organizations such as the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives being taken away from their normal responsibilities to assist President Trump’s immigration crackdown were voiced by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
In a letter to the Justice Department on Tuesday, Reps. Lucy McBath (D-Georgia), Pramila Jayapal (D-California), and Jamie Ruskin (D-Maryland) stated that the Department’s resources are not being effectively used by this all-consuming focus on rounding up immigrants.
The letter to Acting Attorney General James McHenry stated, “We hired and trained these law enforcement officials to handle extremely important and sensitive tasks essential to the safety and security of our nation.” If these officials are forced to renounce their duties, dangerous criminals will continue to operate freely and countless Americans would be exposed to more violent crime.
The Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove’s memo, which directed FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force members away from terror investigations and toward the arrest of undocumented immigrants without making any effort to strategically prioritize public safety threats, also sparked concerns among the Democratic members of Congress.
Agents from the FBI and other federal law enforcement organizations under the Justice Department’s supervision have joined ICE agents on increased operations, such as those conducted in Chicago and New York City this week, after Bove’s memo from January 21.
The Justice Department was also requested in the letter to furnish data regarding the number of agents from the several federal law enforcement agencies that have been redirected to work on immigration arrests. The Democrats requested each employee’s name, length of service with the Department, and the impact of their reassignment on their agency.