Operation Midway Blitz
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on a separate subject, for more than 3 months, Secretary Kristi Noem and President Donald Trump have used the city of Chicago as their personal playground for militarizing immigration operations. When they announced the start of this campaign, they called it Operation Midway Blitz. They promised to target and deport murderers, rapists, terrorists, the criminally insane, the worst of the worst. The results tell a different story.
In an ongoing lawsuit, a judge examined whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement violated a consent decree preventing warrantless arrests of individuals without probable cause. In a list the administration presented--a list that came from the Department of Homeland Security, came from Secretary Noem--submitted to the Federal court of more than 600 immigrants recently arrested, do you know how many of them had a significant criminal history? Sixteen. Sixteen out of more than 600.
Nationwide, ICE has arrested nearly 75,000 people with no criminal history between January 20 and October of this year. Federal immigration agents have arrested and detained the following as examples: a mother on her way to visit her 15-day-old baby in the NICU, a teacher in a preschool in front of her young students, day laborers, vendors, construction workers, and cooks simply trying to work hard, make a living, and support their families.
Immigration agents arrested and detained at least 40 U.S. citizens in Illinois alone between late August and early November. Does that sound like we are getting rid of the worst of the worst; people with no criminal history, many of whom are citizens of the United States, not given the advantage of due process guaranteed by the 5th and 14th amendments?
I have repeatedly warned that these actions amount to political theater to promote the President's anti-immigrant agenda and spread fear and reduce crime. I have cautioned that it is a slippery slope from this trampling of rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.
I have urged my Republican colleagues--just one Republican colleague--to consider the possibility that these raids could come to a city they represent, and they would be faced with the very same reality. How might they feel then? Would they call out these abuses of power if that time came?
Well, I regret to inform them that the time has come. After wreaking havoc in Illinois, Border Patrol official Greg Bovino and his traveling circus have hit the road and descended on more communities, including red States. Last month, in Charlotte, NC, a video posted to social media showed a U.S. citizen construction worker being swarmed by Federal agents while he was in his vehicle. They proceeded to smash the truck's window and handcuff him while verifying his citizenship. The man said the agents ``didn't believe I was an American citizen'' and ``wanted to know where I was born.'' He was released only after the agents verified his citizenship.
In a separate incident--this one in Louisiana--a viral video showed a silver unmarked SUV pulling up to a woman and two masked agents exiting to chase her. She repeatedly yelled she was a U.S. citizen and to ``leave her alone'' before making it to her home.
Other States, including Florida and Texas, have also witnessed increased Federal immigration enforcement operations.
These types of confrontations with Federal agents that we are seeing in the streets of many American cities will, unfortunately, continue unless we speak up. The lack of professionalism and the use of overly aggressive tactics and excessive force is sad but not surprising.
The Trump administration has surged ICE hiring with the goal of onboarding 10,000 new agents by the end of the year. That would more than double the number of deportation officers from the current number of 6,000 to 16,000. The Trump administration should be working to improve the screening, hiring, and training of recruits before unleashing them onto the streets of America. Instead, they have lowered requirements for ICE agents, including loosening the age restrictions for prospective agents and shortening the training period from 13 weeks to merely 6 weeks and giving each of the new ICE recruits a $50,000 cash bonus. This approach has proven woefully inadequate and downright dangerous.
Recent reporting suggests these new lowered hiring standards have resulted in ICE recruits who have barely been able to read or write, failed drug tests, displayed tattoos associated with gangs and White supremacists, failed to meet basic physical fitness requirements, and even have pending criminal charges.
Secretary Noem calls this her dream team--her dream team.
In one instance, the staff of the Georgia-based Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, where recruits were trained, were left shocked when a student asked to be excused from class to attend a court case that he faced on a gun charge.
A male recruit reportedly barged into a female dorm at one of these training facilities, after bar hopping, and harassed the occupants. Another recruit groped a woman in a training course. These are the people--the dream team of Secretary Noem--that President Trump is attempting to release onto our streets to restore law and order.
With these lower standards, the troubling incidents I have described are definitely going to increase. Given all this, I ask my Republican colleagues, if you think we need to keep an eye on the Federal Government, why don't we start here? Will any of you rebuke this lawlessness and cruelty, any one Republican Senator? What will it take for you to finally do so?
We ought to be united in calling out these abuses. Secretary Noem wants to play dress-up in her camo wardrobe, demanding government jets to tour battleground States, brag about her dream team of masked secret police, arrest ordinary people who are working hard on tough jobs, with what, I believe, is an attempt to change basic constitutional principles. We have to stand up and speak out. Is this what America is really all about?
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