House Democrats Plan to Widen Congressional Probes of Fatal ICE Shootings, Including Subpoenas and Internal Use-of-Force Records, After Winning Control of Congress in Tuesday's Midterms
Sunday, November 8, 2026
House Democrats, fresh from sweeping wins in Tuesday's midterms, say the deaths of people shot by federal immigration agents will be the target of widened congressional investigations when the new Congress is seated on January 3 — with subpoenas for the officials who ran President Donald Trump's deportation campaign and demands for the agency's internal use-of-force records.
The cases at the centre are the Minneapolis killings from last winter's immigration surge: Renee Good, a mother of three and a U.S. citizen shot by an ICE officer, and Alex Pretti, a VA nurse and U.S. citizen shot by Border Patrol agents a few weeks later. Also named is Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the Houston father of three shot by an ICE officer in July. At least seven other people have been killed by federal immigration agents since Trump returned to office. Federal officials have given little indication that their own investigations into the deaths are moving, and the Department of Homeland Security did not answer a request for their status.
A congressional majority carries the power to compel testimony under oath. The officials Democrats say could be called include White House border czar Tom Homan, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, former Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino and White House chief of staff Stephen Miller. Committees can also demand internal documents such as use-of-force reports. Naureen Shah, who leads the ACLU's immigration policy work, says investigators can “dissect these individual shootings” — establishing what orders officers in the field were given and how they were trained, and asking who decided to present Good and Pretti as threats: Pretti was called a “would-be assassin” and a domestic terrorist, descriptions critics say the video of his shooting contradicts.
The incoming committee leaders have set out their intentions. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, expected to chair the Judiciary Committee, said Congress will use “every tool” at its disposal to investigate ICE and that it is time for the agency to “start answering to the American people.” Rep. Robert Garcia of California, expected to chair the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, gave his answer in two words: “Lawyer Up.” Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, expected to chair the Homeland Security Committee, wrote on Wednesday to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin demanding the agency “comply with all document preservation requirements,” and Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois said officials including Noem, Miller, Homan and Bovino should “clear” their schedules. Democrats have already held unofficial shadow hearings at which family members and witnesses testified; the new majority turns that questioning into compulsory process.
The administration is pushing back. DHS general counsel James Percival said Democrats are “more interested in political shenanigans than in governing,” though he said the agency is prepared to “deal with this nonsense.” A White House spokesperson said that “if Democrats choose to pursue sham investigations and radical left policies, they are choosing to work against the American people,” and added that Democrats should be reminded “we still control the federal government and all of its powers” — though the power to compel testimony belongs to Congress itself.
The probes also have clear limits, stated plainly. Rachel Moran, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas, notes that bigger steps, such as clawing back ICE's funding, would need a veto-proof majority Democrats do not have, and that the president has shown, in her words, a “complete lack of interest in accountability for federal agents.” What the investigations can still do is force evidence into the open — evidence states can use in their own criminal investigations. Minnesota officials have been fighting the federal government for the evidence in the Good and Pretti cases.
For the families, this is the first route to answers that carries legal force. Renee Good's brother, Brent Ganger, says learning more about his sister's death will be hard to hear, “but I think it's also super important for us to understand what happened that day.” This week, people in Minneapolis and in Houston left their “I Voted” stickers at the memorials to Good, Pretti and Araujo. For immigrant communities, the hearings will test whether deaths during enforcement operations bring consequences; for the agents involved, they mean sworn testimony and internal records examined in public for the first time.
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