Democrat Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib is not stopping her rhetoric against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) even after the Los Angeles protests.
She was confronted at the Capitol by independent investigative reporter Nicholas Ballasy who asked her if she would tone down the rhetoric.
“Do you — do you think the rhetoric from — the anti-ICE rhetoric from some politicians has fired up the protesters in Los Angeles in any way?” the reporter said.
“So the anti — so, I know for me, for my residents, for years, since 2003, when the creation happened, because we’re a border community in Detroit, I think it’s important to know, when you’re a border community, everybody always thinks the southern border, but in the northern border, over and over again under Obama, under Bush, but even under Obama and under the current president, I had a few incidents under Biden where ICE agents did not follow the law,” the congresswoman said.
“One tailgated into a neighborhood. You’re not supposed to do that. Didn’t have a warrant, picked up one of my neighbors, actually, known him for years. One of the things that’s important is to listen to the communities. These are folks with mixed statuses, but also Americans like myself who have actually seen ICE agents violate people’s constitutional rights,” she said.
“So, it’s not anti-ICE, it’s pro-constitutional rights, pro-due process, pro-making sure that people are following the law. And ICE agents, and I’ve heard it from people in CPB and field operations and others who tell me the same thing, that ICE does their own thing, and sometimes they don’t even know until it happens, but of course they get blamed for it. But I think it’s important to understand this is not — this is important, to hear the immigrant communities that have been saying since 2003 that ICE has been rogue and it has not followed people’s constitutional rights,” she said.
“Does abolish ICE go too far though?” the reporter pressed, but Tlaib was defiant.
“Not for me,” she said.
Abolishing ICE would mean stopping some of the important work the agency does, other than deportations.
This week the agency detained 11 Iranian nationals, one of whom was a sharpshooter in his country’s elite army unit.
The arrest of Ribvar Karimi, who served four years in the Iranian Army before obtaining a visa to enter the United States, comes after Iran threatened “retaliation” for bombs fired by Israel and the United States on three of its nuclear enrichment sites.
Although President Donald Trump has declared a cease-fire between the two nations, US antiterrorism officials are on “high alert” for the prospect that an Iranian sleeper cell actor may perpetrate a domestic act of terrorism.
According to ICE agents, Karimi was apprehended while holding a card identifying him as a member of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army.
“Under Secretary Noem, DHS has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through Biden’s fraudulent parole programs or otherwise,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out—and we are. We don’t wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump’s mandate to secure the homeland.”
According to the US Department of Homeland Security, Karimi was detained in Locust, Alabama, while on a K-1 visa, which is issued to foreigners who want to marry a US citizen. It is unclear who applied to be Karimi’s future husband.
He came during the Biden administration and failed to alter his status, which was a legal requirement, breaking the conditions of his visa and making him eligible for deportation, according to DHS.