Press Releases
Rep. Becca Balint Conducts ICE Oversight in Chicago
Chicago, IL,
October 24, 2025
Tags:
Immigration
Chicago, IL – Today, Rep. Becca Balint, Vice Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, joined Democrats in Chicago for a hearing on ICE attacks on Chicago. The hearing titled Kidnapped and Disappeared: Trump’s Assault on Chicago was hosted by U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Ranking Member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, along with Chicago-area Representatives Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), Robin Kelly (IL-02), and Danny K. Davis (IL-07). The purpose of the hearing was to dive deeper into Trump’s unlawful and aggressive actions in Chicago and featured witnesses who spoke to personal trauma, constitutional violations, and labor implications. There were over a dozen Members of Congress in attendance from across Illinois and the country. Watch her full remarks here. Read excerpts from her remarks from the hearing below: “Thank you, Ranking Member Jayapal. Thank you for the entire democratic delegation from Illinois that are here. Thank you for hosting us. But most importantly thank you [witnesses] for being willing to come here with us to tell us exactly what's going on because I can tell you our constituents are enraged too. They're enraged by what this government is doing in our name. They are enraged on your behalf. They hate what they're seeing on their TV screens and their phone screens, and they want us to be here witnessing and spreading the alarm and that's why we're here. “And I want to be really clear, some of us were talking about this yesterday, this is all about abuse of power. From the illegal firings of federal workers, to taking away people's health care, to destroying the East Wing of the White House, and now being here watching the ways in which they are terrorizing neighborhoods here in Chicago and across this country. It is about abuse of power and as I said, we are enraged. “Yesterday we had an opportunity from people who are directly impacted by the terror that is being brought here in Chicago. People snatched off the street, disappeared. People who are dropping their kids off at school. People who are just trying to go to work. The big lie - they are not criminals. They do not have criminal records. These are people, the backbones of our communities, that are being hauled off. And they with the respect and the dignity the human dignity that they all deserve as human beings. And one woman told us that her mother had said how shocked she was that here in the United States she could be treated with so much inhumanity, on our watch, in our name “Pastor Black, I know you know something about this, you were there protesting peacefully, you were praying, you were shot with pepper balls to the head. It's a shocking video of unnecessary violence. And you are not the only religious leader that has tried to give comfort to those who have been detained and ICE has refused entry. Can you please tell me why you feel called in this moment to stand up for immigrants?” Witnesses at the hearing included:
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