Democrats tried to redirect the hearing toward the Trump administration’s response to the L.A. riots.
Midway through his brief question-and-answer period in Thursday’s House Oversight Committee hearing, Representative Brandon Gill (R., Texas) asked Democratic Governor JB Pritzker (Ill.) if he could identify the following individuals: Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin José Peña Ramos.
“No sir, I do not,” Pritzker said.
“You should,” Gill responded. “Those are two men who came into this country illegally, raped and murdered twelve-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in my home state of Texas. Do you think that elected officials should have welcomed them into our communities?”
That questioning strategy was a major theme of Thursday’s “sanctuary state” House Oversight hearing on Capitol Hill, where Republican members of the panel spent hours grilling Democratic Governors Pritzker, Tim Walz (Minn.), and Kathy Hochul (N.Y.) on the names of violent illegal immigrants in various states who have been accused and convicted of murdering, raping, or harassing American citizens.
Throughout the hearing, Republicans grilled Democratic chief executives on their states’ generous housing and food-assistance programs for illegal immigrants, past statements on immigration, and limited cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Meanwhile Democrats on the committee sought to turn the panel on its head by accusing the White House of immigration-enforcement overreach. Member after member argued that ICE officers are denying illegal immigrants due process rights and that the president crossed the line in deploying U.S. Marines and National Guard troops to quell Los Angeles protests against California Governor Gavin Newsom’s wishes.
Speaking under oath, the three Democratic governors emphasized that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility and accused the Trump administration of unprecedented overreach with his response to the L.A. riots. “The absolute pinnacle and the most critical piece is, is the coordination amongst them. As a governor, not being notified as local law enforcement, it creates a chaotic situation that they cannot operate as a joint unit,” Walz said.
Hochul called the move “an overreach of epic proportions,” and Pritzker said deploying the U.S. military against a governor’s wishes “tends to have an inflaming effect.”
Democrats clearly believe the issue is a political winner. This is an ambitious bet, considering polls in recent years have consistently suggested that voters trust Republicans more on immigration.
“The Trump administration is breaking the law, not these Democratic governors,” said Representative Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.).
“This is the most dystopian, horrific episode of Black Mirror I have ever seen,” Representative Yassamin Ansari (D., Ariz.) said of Trump’s L.A. riot response, adding that his decision to deploy the U.S. military was part of a deliberate strategy to “purposefully” generate chaos and inflame the situation.
“I want to take a moment to speak directly to the immigrant family who might be watching and listening today,” Representative Melanie Stansbury (D., N.M.) said at the top of her remarks. “I want to say to everyone out there who would be here. We love you, we respect you, and we are fighting for you and every community being targeted by this administration and this Congress.”
Many Democrats are couching their arguments in due process concerns. Wesley Bell (D., Mo.) raised concern that masked ICE agent arrests could inspire non-law-enforcement agents to falsely identify themselves as immigration-enforcement officials for the purpose of committing crime.
Other Oversight Committee Democrats used Thursday’s hearing to criticize the president’s signature domestic policy bill, which they argue will unfairly kick millions of Americans off of Medicaid. Many cited data suggesting that immigrants are far less likely than American citizens to commit crimes.
The hearing comes as all three chief executives weigh their own political futures. Pritzker is widely reported to be considering a presidential run in 2028. That prompted Republicans like Gill to grill him on a litany of cultural issues unrelated to Thursday’s hearing, such as his views on the terrorist group Hamas and transgender restroom policies. The governor responded by accusing the Texas congressman of political grandstanding.
Hochul will face her own second-in-command, Democratic lieutenant governor Antonio Delgado, in the 2026 gubernatorial primary, and a host of high-profile Republicans are teasing a run for the GOP primary. Walz is expected to either throw his hat in the ring for president or run for a third term as governor in 2026.
Throughout the hearing, Republicans raised before the committee controversial statements the governors have made about immigration-enforcement officials. Republicans asked Walz to recant a statement he made a few weeks ago, that “Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets.” Another Republican resurfaced a past interview comment from Hochul criticizing “renegade counties” in her state that cooperate with ICE.
Republicans who aren’t members of the oversight committee also made surprise appearances on Thursday to press their home-state governors on their immigration policies. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R., Minn.) pressed Walz on his state’s policies that provide health care, driver’s licenses, and college educations to illegal immigrants. Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), also not a member of the panel, grilled Hochul on the names of violent illegal immigrants who have been accused or convicted of violent crimes.
Against this backdrop, Democrats are gambling that the Trump administration is erring in immigration-enforcement overreach. Ranking Oversight Chairman Stephen Lynch used his opening statement to rail against the administration’s immigration policies on due process concerns, harshly criticizing Trump’s response to the L.A. protests and comparing ICE agents to the Gestapo.
Lynch claimed that the administration’s mass deportation strategy “is letting dangerous criminals roam free while it kicks off peaceful, peaceful contributing members of our communities, bus boys at restaurants, day laborers at Home Depot, parents who were taking their kids to school,” he said. “My dad served in the Second World War. He fought the Nazis in Northern Africa. He fought the Nazis on the Italian peninsula. And I think he’s looking down right now, he’s happy that I’m fighting today’s Nazis.”
Later in the hearing, Representative Kweisi Mfume (D., Md.) also compared ICE agents to the Gestapo and raised concerns that the Trump administration’s tactics and messaging closely mirror black codes and runaway slave laws from the 19th century.