House Democrats are investigating whether Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security has hired January 6 rioters and others connected to the Capitol attack as Donald Trump’s administration launches a hiring spree for his mass deportation campaign.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is asking for hiring records and other information to determine whether any of the roughly 1,600 people charged in connection with the attack are among the ranks of masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officers “that have dragged, tackled, beaten, tased, shot, and killed citizens and non-citizens alike in communities across the country.”
Trump pardoned virtually all of them on his first day in office, including dozens of defendants who assaulted law enforcement.
The congressman alleges Homeland Security “seems to be courting” pardoned rioters with recruitment campaigns invoking white nationalist dog whistles, appeals to groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, and a “relaxed vetting process,” according to Raskin’s letter.
“Unique among all law enforcement agencies and all branches of the armed services, ICE agents conceal their identities, wearing masks and removing names from their uniforms,” Raskin wrote. “Why is that? Why do National Guard members, state, county, and local police officers, and members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines all routinely work unmasked while ICE agents work masked?”
Raskin is calling on Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce a list of people working for the Department of Justice or Homeland Security who received or requested a pardon from the president, along with any documents regarding “the solicitation and hiring” of anyone charged or investigating in connection with January 6.
He also wants records and communications on the use of face coverings.
“The American people deserve to know how many of these violent insurrectionists have been given guns and badges by this Administration,” Raskin wrote.
Noem and Bondi are asked to reply by 5 p.m., January 26.
The Independent has requested comment from Homeland Security.
It is unclear whether any pardoned rioters have joined ICE or CBP.
But after the president’s mass pardons, the Trump administration hired at least one member of the mob as well as an attorney who represented them.
Jared Wise was scheduled to go to trial 10 days before Trump’s inauguration. He admitted to urging rioters to “kill” law enforcement at the Capitol and faced six counts in connection with the riots. The former FBI agent berated police as “Nazis” and “Gestapo” and testified that he would be “morally justified” if he had assaulted them in defense of what he viewed as excessive force, according to court documents.
Wise is now working as a senior adviser at the Justice Department.
“Jared Wise is a valued member of the Department of Justice and we appreciate his contributions to our team,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement to The Independent shared by White House.
Trump also appointed right-wing activist Ed Martin — who served on a board providing financial support to January 6 defendants — as a pardon attorney and director of the administration’s “Weaponization Working Group.”
Martin was serving as the acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., before Trump pulled his nomination and brought in Fox News personality Jeannine Piro to serve as the capital’s top prosecutor.
Martin and Pirro succeeded Matthew Graves, who led the largest federal investigation in Justice Department history with the prosecution of 1,600 people in connection with an assault fueled by Trump’s ongoing false claim that the 2020 election was stolen and rigged against him.
Together, Wise and Martin “led this administration’s efforts to fire, demote, and harass the dedicated career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support personnel who did their professional and civic duty holding to account the persons who committed crimes” on January 6, according to Raskin.
Last year, Trump signed into law a massive piece of legislation that hands more than $178 billion to immigration enforcement over the next decade, with $30 billion specifically for ICE’s recruiting efforts.
That injection of taxpayer cash makes the law enforcement agency one of the most expensive police forces in the world, outpacing most foreign military budgets.
Homeland Security advertised a “maximum $50,000 signing bonus” and student loan forgiveness for new recruits, dropped age limit requirements and allowed people older than 40 to apply.
The administration aimed to hire more than 10,000 ICE agents by the end of 2025, or roughly doubling its footprint, with a major boost to the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division.
Critics have warned that hitting that hiring target — without adequate guardrails to screen future agents and know exactly who is filling those roles — could invite abuse and illegal use of force as Trump surges thousands of federal officers into Democratic-led cities.
Democrats appear to be tightening screws against Homeland Security as Congress heads toward a deadline to fund the agency weeks after the fatal shooting of Renee Good and widespread protests against militarized immigration officers.
Some Democrats are mulling whether to withhold funding without any new limits on Trump’s anti-immigration agenda.
“It’s obviously natural that Democrats would want to make sure that any money we spend in DHS is being spent lawfully, and right now that department is full of unlawful activity,” Sen. Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the appropriations subcommittee for Homeland Security, told The Independent.
