[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 110 (Thursday, June 26, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H2979]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ICE TURNS COURTHOUSES INTO TRAPS

  (Ms. Balint of Vermont was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. BALINT. Mr. Speaker, right now, ICE is showing up at courthouses 
across the country, waiting to arrest people after their official 
immigration hearings.
  Is this what we thought we would see in America? ICE officials lying 
in wait to grab people who are actually following the rules? In some 
cases, these people had just had their cases dismissed.
  They walk into court, following the rules, doing what they were told, 
following the legal pathways, and they are being taken into unmarked 
cars and fast-tracked for deportation.
  Let's be clear: This isn't about catching dangerous criminals. It was 
never about catching dangerous criminals.
  These are moms, dads, students, grandparents, workers, people who are 
trying to get through the legal process the right way, but ICE is 
turning our courthouses into traps.
  The very places that immigrants are supposed to go to follow a legal 
path to citizenship have now become traps to lure people in so that 
they can be arrested, detained, and disappeared.
  ICE tricked a Vermonter, Mohsen Mahdawi. He has been legally in our 
State for 10 years. He showed up for the final step in his citizenship 
process only to have masked men detain him after he exited the 
courthouse. He knew it was a risk to show up, but he decided it was 
worth the risk to maybe finally become an American.
  Imagine going to court, following the process, and then getting 
arrested the second you step outside. That is what is happening in 
America right now.
  Last month, in San Francisco, four asylum-seekers were taken by ICE 
after their hearings were over. In New York City, even a city official, 
Comptroller Brad Lander, was detained by ICE while trying to support an 
immigrant friend.
  If they are willing to rough up city officials, mayors, and even a 
sitting U.S. Senator, what does that mean for the rest of us? These 
tactics are to scare people. People are now afraid to go to court.
  How does that possibly make our country more safe? People are 
skipping hearings, risking automatic deportation, because they don't 
trust the system anymore. How is anyone supposed to follow the legal 
steps if even those are now a risk?
  Republicans claim over and over again in committees that this is only 
about illegal immigration. It is not. If that were the case, then they 
would be just as outraged as I am that people are being snatched 
outside of their court hearings.
  It is an attack on due process, plain and simple. It is an attack on 
the idea that we all deserve a fair shot in this country. It is also a 
clear tactic to instill fear in all of us so that we will be 
intimidated into submission and stop standing up for our neighbors.
  ICE agents without visible ID, without any official markings on them, 
and with masks are acting more like vigilantes than agents of our 
government.

                              {time}  1100

  Mr. Speaker, how can we even trust that these are government 
officials? It is nothing more than kidnapping, and it needs to stop. 
There should be no more secret arrests and no more plainclothes agents 
waiting outside of courtrooms. This kind of thing does not happen in 
democracy. It doesn't.
  The only way to protect Americans from these abuses is to provide due 
process to anyone facing deportation. Due process exists to protect 
American citizens and to protect all of us from wrongful deportation 
and wrongful detention.
  This administration does not seem to care about this complete and 
total violation of our constitutional rights, a right that we are all 
entitled to, regardless of status.
  Under Trump, ICE and DHS have become a means to carry out political 
arrests and to silence anyone that disagrees with their extreme agenda. 
That is what we are looking at right now. It has never been about 
removing the criminals. It has always been about creating mass fear and 
mass intimidation so they can retain more power.
  This is not what Americans want. I need my Republican colleagues to 
fight for everyone in their district. I need them to speak up.
  Mr. Speaker, where is your line?

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