Floor SpeechPartisan Attack2026-07-14

ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ICE

ImmigrationTaxesEnvironmentDefenseCrime & JusticeSocial Security

Context

On 2026-07-14, Representative Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ-3) delivered a floor speech titled "ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ICE" in the House.

Full Text

ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ICE

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 114 (Tuesday, July 14, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 14, 2026)] [House] [Page H4419] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ICE (Ms. Ansari of Arizona was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) Ms. ANSARI. Madam Speaker, ICE, the President's paramilitary secret police force, continues to roam American streets and murder people in broad daylight and in cold blood. First, it was Ruben Ray Martinez in March 2025, but ICE covered it up and kept it from the public. Then, it was Alex Pretti and Renee Good. ICE shot and killed these two innocent people in Minnesota who had done nothing more than exercise their constitutional right to protest and free speech. Then, the administration's rightwing propaganda machine got to work, smearing these two heroes as ``domestic terrorists,'' without an ounce of evidence. This was coordinated and directed by leadership of the Department of Homeland Security, by then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and by the White House itself through heinous, racist voices like Stephen Miller. It is not a mistake. ICE agents are completely out of control, and that is on purpose. That is their mission. This is what the Trump administration wanted to happen from the start--to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars to their paramilitary force and then use masked agents and a nationwide effort to spread fear and terrorize immigrant communities. The mass deportation agenda is part of their fascist, far-right scheme to amass power by using immigrants as scapegoats and deploying Federal troops to American cities, like my hometown of Phoenix. All across this country, people are shocked, outraged, and appalled by ICE's conduct and the sheer cruelty of Trump's mass deportation agenda. Yet, it continues to happen in service of arbitrary, brutal quotas for bodies--quotas for bodies of real people to fill beds so that for-profit prison companies like GEO Group and CoreCivic can rake in billions of dollars and families can be torn apart and deported to third countries they have never known. We are talking about 10,000 arrests in a 5-day period this past week. As part of all of these horrors, ICE has carried out two sickening murders just in the last week: one in Houston and one in Maine. ICE is using pathetic excuses and spreading more misleading information with the Federal Government's bully pulpit to cover up their crimes. This is Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old father who was driving to work and was shot and murdered while doing so. He was not a domestic terrorist. He wasn't going to ram his vehicle into anybody. He had no criminal record whatsoever. He was a hardworking, beloved father of American citizens who was working hard to build the American Dream. If you haven't watched his son Ronaldo speak about his dad, I recommend you do so. It is heart-wrenching. It is outrageous that ICE is claiming Lorenzo ``weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer.'' Multiple witnesses have testified that there were never any ICE agents in front of the van. They came in and started shooting from the sides. As with Alex Pretti and Renee Good, ICE is lying and lying badly. I honestly cannot believe how terrible their lies are. That wasn't enough. ICE murdered another person in Maine, 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero, somebody who had a work permit, somebody who had a U.S. Social Security number. Then, DHS put out a statement just yesterday, just last night, that said that this man was trying to drive away, and they shot him for these vague assertions of public safety. ICE murdered a Maine resident, a law-abiding resident, in front of his wife and his 3-year-old daughter for no reason whatsoever. This is just pure evil. Democrats in Congress have been demanding accountability for well over a year. We are a nation of laws, not a nation of secret police, cold-blooded murders by Federal agents on city streets, and black site detention centers. We must urgently work to stop these horrific abuses. It is a moral stain on our country. We must abolish ICE, and we are going to prosecute every single person responsible for directing, enabling, or carrying out these crimes. Lives are at stake. How many more families and communities need to be torn apart for Republicans in Congress to do something? ____________________

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ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ICE Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 114 (Tuesday, July 14, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 14, 2026)] [House] [Page H4419] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ICE (Ms. Ansari of Arizona was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) Ms. ANSARI. Madam Speaker, ICE, the President's paramilitary secret police force, continues to roam American streets and murder people in broad daylight and in cold blood. First, it was Ruben Ray Martinez in March 2025, but ICE covered it up and kept it from the public. Then, it was Alex Pretti and Renee Good. ICE shot and killed these two innocent people in Minnesota who had done nothing more than exercise their constitutional right to protest and free speech. Then, the administration's rightwing propaganda machine got to work, smearing these two heroes as ``domestic terrorists,'' without an ounce of evidence. This was coordinated and directed by leadership of the Department of Homeland Security, by then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and by the White House itself through heinous, racist voices like Stephen Miller. It is not a mistake. ICE agents are completely out of control, and that is on purpose. That is their mission. This is what the Trump administration wanted to happen from the start--to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars to their paramilitary force and then use masked agents and a nationwide effort to spread fear and terrorize immigrant communities. The mass deportation agenda is part of their fascist, far-right scheme to amass power by using immigrants as scapegoats and deploying Federal troops to American cities, like my hometown of Phoenix. All across this country, people are shocked, outraged, and appalled by ICE's conduct and the sheer cruelty of Trump's mass deportation agenda. Yet, it continues to happen in service of arbitrary, brutal quotas for bodies--quotas for bodies of real people to fill beds so that for-profit prison companies like GEO Group and CoreCivic can rake in billions of dollars and families can be torn apart and deported to third countries they have never known. We are talking about 10,000 arrests in a 5-day period this past week. As part of all of these horrors, ICE has carried out two sickening murders just in the last week: one in Houston and one in Maine. ICE is using pathetic excuses and spreading more misleading information with the Federal Government's bully pulpit to cover up their crimes. This is Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old father who was driving to work and was shot and murdered while doing so. He was not a domestic terrorist. He wasn't going to ram his vehicle into anybody. He had no criminal record whatsoever. He was a hardworking, beloved father of American citizens who was working hard to build the American Dream. If you haven't watched his son Ronaldo speak about his dad, I recommend you do so. It is heart-wrenching. It is outrageous that ICE is claiming Lorenzo ``weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer.'' Multiple witnesses have testified that there were never any ICE agents in front of the van. They came in and started shooting from the sides. As with Alex Pretti and Renee Good, ICE is lying and lying badly. I honestly cannot believe how terrible their lies are. That wasn't enough. ICE murdered another person in Maine, 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero, somebody who had a work permit, somebody who had a U.S. Social Security number. Then, DHS put out a statement just yesterday, just last night, that said that this man was trying to drive away, and they shot him for these vague assertions of public safety. ICE murdered a Maine resident, a law-abiding resident, in front of his wife and his 3-year-old daughter for no reason whatsoever. This is just pure evil. Democrats in Congress have been demanding accountability for well over a year. We are a nation of laws, not a nation of secret police, cold-blooded murders by Federal agents on city streets, and black site detention centers. We must urgently work to stop these horrific abuses. It is a moral stain on our country. We must abolish ICE, and we are going to prosecute every single person responsible for directing, enabling, or carrying out these crimes. Lives are at stake. How many more families and communities need to be torn apart for Republicans in Congress to do something? ____________________