Crockett FIRES BACK: Record ICE Custody Deaths and Republicans Haven't Held ONE Hearing!

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]So, here's the thing. House Republicans hold sanctuary cities hearings the way other people watch TV habitually on a schedule and with no expectation that anything will change. They've been running the same play for years. Bring in grieving families, make speeches, generate clips, go home, fix nothing.

[00:00:18]So, 5 days ago on April 16th, they ran it again. Representative Jasmine Crockett sat down at that hearing and broke the script completely. She demanded accountability for every victim, not just the ones that were politically useful. She named American citizens shot by their own government.

[00:00:36]She asked why their families had never once been invited to testify. Nobody in that room had an answer. Watch what she said. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

[00:00:44]And let me um echo um the condolences that he said not to give. Um regardless, as someone who I don't think will ever get comfortable with trying to explain the unexplainable, specifically to parents.

[00:01:02]Um there is a due order that we all believe will exist, especially when you bring your beautiful child into this world.

[00:01:12]And the one thing that no parent ever anticipates is for that order to be disrupted.

[00:01:22]Prior to coming to Congress, um I was [clears throat] frustrated.

[00:01:27]I did a lot of the same work that Mr. Romaniuki does.

[00:01:33]I had to face so many parents that lost their children and shouldn't have.

[00:01:40]Whether it was doing the civil rights work or whether it was sometimes um being the criminal defense attorney that would have to walk into court and represent people and make sure that their due process rights were preserved because they had been accused of killing somebody else.

[00:02:00]Um so I will say that I agree with the chairman when he says that speeches cannot suffice.

[00:02:08]They never have.

[00:02:09]They never will.

[00:02:11]Um but I must say that our actions have to speak louder than any words.

[00:02:17]And one of the reasons that I got into politics is because I felt like politicians are very good at lip service.

[00:02:25]And frankly, um this hearing is a hearing that we've had over and over and over where we've talked about sanctuary cities.

[00:02:36]And it frustrates me, if I'm being perfectly honest, because it doesn't lead to solutions.

[00:02:44]It feels like political gamesmanship.

[00:02:47]And the chairman is my friend.

[00:02:50]But I always keep it as real as I can.

[00:02:56]So, I want to say thank you to each and every one of you for being here today.

[00:03:00]And let me be clear about something.

[00:03:02]>> [clears throat] >> Anyone who commits a crime, especially a violent crime, should be fully held accountable, no matter their citizenship status, race, sex, how much money they do or don't have, whether they went to school or not, or even if they're a government official.

[00:03:22]No one should be above the law.

[00:03:25]I've listened to similar witnesses um give their accounts and their stories, but specifically as relates to the witnesses that sit before us today.

[00:03:37]Um I've read your written testimony.

[00:03:40]And I agree with some of the specific things that have been said in your written testimony.

[00:03:46]For example, Ms. Fox, that policies have consequences and that public policy should not require a threshold of victims before it's taken seriously.

[00:03:59]The only people in disagreement with this statement are the Republicans on this committee.

[00:04:04]They've held multiple hearings on this topic, but still haven't invited the families of anyone killed by ICE or who have died while in ICE's custody.

[00:04:14]More people died in ICE's custody last year than anytime in the 21st century.

[00:04:19]And Republicans still haven't invited any of their families to testify before this committee.

[00:04:24]ICE and CBP have either shot or shot at at least 24 people, including American citizens. Some have died.

[00:04:34]Others have been severely injured. A college student even had to have their eye removed after being shot in the face.

[00:04:41]Republicans have not invited any of their families to testify before this committee.

[00:04:46]As far as I know, Republicans have not even contacted the families of those killed or harmed.

[00:04:51]What our witnesses went through is tragic and devastating.

[00:04:56]And their loved ones, you deserve justice.

[00:05:04]But I have to be clear and say that their lives are not worth more nor less than say the life of Renee Good or the life of Alex Pretty or the life of Ruben Martinez, a 23-year-old US citizen who was shot and killed by ICE in March of 2025 or the life of Miramar Martinez, a 30-year-old US citizen who was shot five times by federal agents. Now, Ms. but to Ms. Fox's point, it quote should not require a threshold of victims before it is taken seriously.

[00:05:38]Just 6 months after federal agents murdered Ruben Martinez, they tried to murder Miramar Martinez, but failed.

[00:05:45]Just 2 and 1/2 months later, federal agents killed Renee Good. Just 17 days after that, federal agents killed Alex Pretty. And each time Republicans on this committee have blamed the victims.

[00:05:57]If they had only been exercising their First Amendment rights, they'd be alive today.

[00:06:03]Or if Martinez hadn't Ms. Martinez hadn't panicked after federal agents ran up behind her, put a AR-15 to her head and said, quote, "Do something, bitch."

[00:06:14]If she had just stayed calm, maybe she wouldn't have been shot five times.

[00:06:19]This is what failed policy looks like.

[00:06:22]And these families deserve to have a voice when they're discuss when they're discussing immigration enforcement policies in the United States.

[00:06:29]Republicans would rather parade families experiencing tragedy around the halls of Congress for political purposes than to actually fix our broken immigration system.

[00:06:40]In fact, I don't know how many people remember, but prior to the presidential election, the House and the Senate had worked on legislation.

[00:06:52]And there was a candidate that did not want us to take up the legislation because they wanted to campaign on a broken system.

[00:07:00]The bad part about campaigning on broken systems is that they continue to allow for harm to be permeated throughout the entirety of our country. And that's exactly what happened and that's what's happening right now.

[00:07:13]In fact, Republicans are ignoring all crime across the United States. They refuse to enforce congressional subpoenas to advance the investigation into the Epstein pedophile ring. They've been completely silent on the fact that Donald Trump issued unconditional pardons for January 6th insurrectionists, many of whom were convicted on separate charges of rape, stalking, child abuse, domestic violence, drug trafficking, and possession of child porn. For months, they've ignored Trump's and Hekset's war crimes when they ordered the killings of non-combatant civilians, many of whom were just fishermen. And now they're ignoring the president's illegal war and genocidal threats against the Iranian people. Republicans have completely abandoned the American people. ATF case referrals are down. DEA case referrals are down. The number of weapons seized by DHS dropped by almost 80%. Drug arrests are down. In just the first 6 months of his administration, Trump's DOJ ended 23,000 criminal cases, including investigations into terrorism, tax evasion, drug trafficking, and other violent crimes.

[00:08:17]And Republicans on this committee haven't held a single hearing, started any investigations, or done anything about it. Drug traffickers, men who prey on children, murderers, and potential terrorists are all roaming the streets of America because they'd rather use these families' tragedy for political gain.

[00:08:36]I'm going to be real honest about this.

[00:08:39]Your children should be here today.

[00:08:43]Believe me when I tell you that.

[00:08:46]And while I sit in this imperfect government, and we all know that government is run by imperfect people because we are all human.

[00:08:55]There are policies that can be changed.

[00:08:58]And it would be my hope and prayer that we start to bring about policy changes that can prevent loss of life all around.

[00:09:08]But right now, as federally elected officials, the one thing that we could do to start to save at least some folk is to focus on the fact that we have what seems to be government-sanctioned violence that is leading to people dying.

[00:09:26]And we are the ones that oversee these government officials, and I would encourage the chairman to hold a hearing so that we can do that part because we are not elected to run any city. We are elected on the federal level, and we are the ones that are supposed to have oversight over DHS and others. And with that, I will yield.

[00:09:48]I thank the ranking member.

[00:09:50]When I make a mistake, I make a mistake.

[00:09:52]So, it's important to me to start each meeting, and I forgot to do it, with the pledge. So, we're going to stand up and do the pledge and then a moment of silence just thinking about all that's transpiring. Please stand.

[00:10:09]Will you lead us in the pledge, Mr. Please join me.

[00:10:12]I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible Here's something that happened the same morning Crooked delivered that statement. The acting ICE director was testifying in a different congressional hearing and a lawmaker asked him a simple question, "How many oversight employees still work in your agency?" He couldn't answer, didn't know. This is the man running the agency responsible for investigating every death in federal immigration detention and he couldn't tell Congress how many people were still doing that work. He announced his resignation later that same day, effective May 31st. A study published this same week in the medical journal JAMA found the death rate per detainee has reached its highest point in 22 years, calculated against the population being held, not just a raw count. That's not a coincidence. That's what happens when oversight collapses.

[00:11:04]And when I say collapsed, I mean that specifically. ICE used to publish detailed time-stamped reports after every detainee death, medications, observations, cause of death. Those are gone now. What the agency posts today is a four-paragraph summary. Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia sent the ICE director a letter just week documenting that of 49 deaths in custody since January 2025, the agency issued a required notice within 48 hours in only 15 cases. 49 deaths, 15 notifications on time. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have held zero hearings on any of it. Now, let me tell you about the cases she named because the first thing you need to know about every single one of them is this, before the evidence came out, the government lied. The first American citizen killed by a federal immigration agent under Trump's second term died in South Padre Island, Texas on March 15th, 2025 and his family had no idea which agency was responsible.

[00:12:05]His name was Ruben Rey Martinez. He was 23 years old, an Amazon warehouse worker from San Antonio planning to enroll in trade school on his first trip out of town celebrating his birthday. His mother, Rachel Reyes, was told by a Texas Ranger that her son had been shot by an officer, which agency hidden for 11 months until a watchdog group called American Oversight got the truth out through a public records request. ICE's version, he intentionally ran over an agent forcing a defensive shot. Body camera footage told a completely different story. Attorneys for the family said it showed his car barely moving, nobody on the hood, nobody in front of the vehicle and the agent firing from 2 feet away through the side window. His passenger left a written statement before dying in an unrelated accident months later. Without warning, without any command, the agent fired and the last thing heard from the driver's seat was, "I'm sorry." A Texas grand jury declined to indict. No agent faced charges. Congressman Joaquin Castro formally accused both ICE and the Texas Department of Public Safety of a cover-up demanding answers about why federal agents concealed their own involvement for close to a year. The story reached national prominence only months later. By then, two more American citizens had already been shot dead by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. A Montessori school teacher's assistant named Marimar Martinez was on her way to donate clothes to her church in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood when she spotted Border Patrol agents on October 4th, 2025. She followed their vehicle and honked to warn her neighbors. Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shot her. The government's response within hours, she rammed federal agents, she's been charged with assault, she's a domestic terrorist. Pay attention to what the evidence actually showed. Body camera footage captured agents inside their vehicle saying, "It's time to get aggressive" before the collision. The video appeared to show Exum steering toward her car, not the other way around. And then there's the text he sent to colleagues after he shot her, "I fired five rounds and she had seven holes. Put that in your book, boys." All charges against Martinez were dropped in November 2025. He went on administrative leave. As of this past week, she's scheduled to testify before the House Oversight Committee on April 22nd, six days after the hearing you just watched.

[00:14:20]Now, I want you to understand the bigger picture here because this goes well beyond individual shootings. When Pam Bondi took over as attorney general in February 2025, prosecutors received an internal directive with a 10-day deadline, review every open case predating October 2022 and close it if warranted, a process that would normally take months, 10 days. The result, nearly 11,000 case closures in a single month, the highest monthly total in data going back at least to 2004, more than double the previous record. By the end of the first six months, more than 23,000 investigations had been quietly dropped.

[00:14:55]What was in those 23,000 cases?

[00:14:58]Healthcare fraud, providers suspected of bilking Medicare and Medicaid, antitrust violations against companies suspected of fixing prices, over 1,300 terrorism and national security cases, 900 cases of fraud targeting federal programs. A federal narcotics prosecutor who'd spent years building cases against fentanyl suppliers in India and China told ProPublica his entire team was ordered to walk away after she arrived. All of the building blocks of what would become successful prosecutions were pulled out, he said. Every one of those investigations gone. The criminals they were tracking still out there. What makes all of this even more infuriating is the border bill. In February 2024, a bipartisan group of senators put together what they called the toughest immigration enforcement bill in a generation, sweeping presidential authority to shut down asylum processing, tightened eligibility rules, billions in new enforcement funding, everything Republicans claim they wanted. Democrats accepted all of it.

[00:15:56]The bill failed 43 to 50 on its first cloture vote, then it failed again in May. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York said it plainly, "Trump told his allies to kill it so he could campaign on a broken system." The same broken system they're holding hearings about right now. Let me be clear about what the Judiciary Committee actually has the power to do. They can subpoena the heads of ICE, CBP and the Department of Justice. They can compel testimony from every official who made these calls.

[00:16:21]Democrats on that committee used that authority in January 2026 formally demanding answers from the attorney general about why the DOJ refused to investigate those killings. Chairman Jeff Van Drew, the man who opened the hearing you just watched, has not called a single corresponding hearing on federal agent use of force, has not sent a parallel demand and has not used one bit of that investigative power toward any of these cases, not one bit. The authority is real. The choice about where to aim it is deliberate. She knows that room. Before Congress, she spent years as a criminal defense attorney sitting with grieving parents including the parents of the accused. She sat on both sides of that table. She knows what it looks like when grief is being performed for cameras and she knows what it looks like when it's real. The families selected for these hearings were curated. The families she named were filtered out by the same committee that put this hearing together, a committee that can only see one category of victim has already told you everything about its priorities. And inside those detention facilities right now, here's what's happening. 60,000 people in immigration detention, nearly double the pre-Trump number. According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, nearly 74% of them had no criminal convictions at all. The Cato Institute found only 5% had violent criminal convictions. That same JAMA study found cardiovascular disease accounts for roughly 1/5 of deaths in custody, what the researchers called long-standing deficiencies in chronic disease monitoring and timely escalation of care. Medical professionals who worked inside these facilities told NPR they witnessed chaotic screenings, life-threatening delays getting people their basic medications. That is what's happening inside the system this committee refuses to examine. She put one word on all of it, accountability, the kind that applies in every direction for every victim regardless of who did the killing. Every enforcement operation came with a press conference. Every killing came with a victim statement.

[00:18:15]Their families are still waiting for the part of government designed to check that power to actually use it. That's what oversight looks like when it works.

[00:18:22]And the answer this committee gave five days ago for what feels like the hundredth time was another hearing on sanctuary cities. Thanks for watching this segment of In Case You Missed It.

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[00:18:40]I really appreciate you watching. I will catch you guys in the next video.