Oversight Committee Democrats chair and witnesses say ICE and Border Patrol entered homes without judicial warrants
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
At a hearing convened by the Oversight Committee Democrats, the chair accused ICE and Border Patrol of using paramilitary tactics and witnesses testified that agents have entered private homes without judicial warrants, describing an "I205" process as a nonjudicial "permission slip."
The Oversight Committee Democrats' chair opened a hearing by alleging that the Trump administration has used Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as a "paramilitary force" that "terrorize[s] communities and families all across The United States." The chair said the agencies engage in illegal and unconstitutional activity, including the use of administrative warrants and mass surveillance.
"ICE agents breaking down the door of miss Tayanna Gibson Brown without a warrant to arrest her husband, Garrison Gibson," the chair said as an example of what the chair described as abuses. The chair further accused border-control and ICE agents of being untrained for policing in American cities and said that their actions have caused "chaos and deadly harm" to people the chair named.
During questioning, a witness identified in the hearing as Bunnell answered that, "based on the reports that we've seen today and what we've heard about, it sounds like they are" acting illegally when entering private homes without judicial warrants. When asked whether federal agents presented a legal judicial warrant in the Gibson Brown case, the witness at the hearing said they did not.
Another witness, Schwang, testified that agents were being instructed to "violate the law and enter homes using the I 2 0 5 warrant process, which is just a permission slip. It's not a real judicial warrant." The chair framed those assertions as evidence of systemic misconduct and called for accountability, saying "Secretary Noem should resign in disgrace or be impeached."
The hearing record consists of opening remarks from the chair, witness testimony asserting that agents entered private homes without judicial warrants, and a description of the I205 process as nonjudicial. The chair closed by reiterating constitutional concerns and thanking witnesses for testifying before yielding back.
The hearing did not record any formal motions or votes during the provided transcript excerpt; the next procedural steps were not specified in the excerpt.