New Orleans Leaders Sound Alarm on DHS Tactics as Minneapolis Shooting Sparks National Outcry

Democrat lawmakers and local leaders criticized Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tactics during a field hearing Monday in New Orleans focused on federal operations in Southeast Louisiana.

The hearing took place ahead of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis over the weekend, an incident that has intensified nationwide scrutiny of DHS and ICE actions.

Some Republicans, including Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., have publicly raised concerns about DHS enforcement tactics, while House Democrats have increased calls to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., who requested the hearing and is a cosponsor of the impeachment resolution, stated: “Under her direction, DHS and ICE have systematically violated the rights and privacy of Americans, terrorized our cities, and obstructed Congress.”

New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, City Council President JP Morrell, and immigration advocates presented testimony to a four-member Democrat delegation led by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee. No representatives from DHS or ICE attended the hearing.

“If Minneapolis is the tip of the spear,” Morrell said, “New Orleans is the hand—a blue city in a red state being used as a test case.”

“Without response to our December request for information about federal immigration operations in the New Orleans area,” Moreno added, “what we’ve seen here—and now in much more severe fashion in Minneapolis—is no longer an issue of immigration, public safety, or even politics. This is a cruel, divisive agenda lacking humanity.”

Advocacy groups urged Congress to increase oversight of federal immigration agents, investigate DHS for alleged human rights violations, restrict DHS funding, end immigration detention, close what they described as a 13th Amendment loophole related to prison labor, and terminate ICE operations.

Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., noted that Democrats currently have limited tools to block Trump administration immigration policies but expressed confidence in future action: “When we take back the majority next year, we are going to do the job of reining in ICE, reining in this lawless administration, and restoring the rights of the people.”

Carter also asked whether DHS had concluded its Southeast Louisiana operation. DHS previously reported about 370 arrests roughly two weeks into the operation—well below a target of 5,000.

Reports from Minnesota on Monday indicated that the recent ICE agent-involved shootings may be responsible for a partial pullout by an unknown number of federal immigration enforcement leaders and frontline agents.