House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) said that his panel would hold a hearing this week to investigate recent protests targeting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in New Jersey, as well as what he described as growing efforts by Democrats to hinder federal immigration enforcement.
In an interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade on Sunday, Jordan previewed the hearing, which is expected to occur Tuesday, May 20. He confirmed that Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), who represents the district where the protest occurred, would participate in the proceedings.
“We think this is real,” Jordan said, referring to the protest and a broader pattern of Democratic interference with ICE operations. “You couple that with what sanctuary cities are doing — making it tougher for federal law enforcement to do their job, interfering with the execution of federal law.”
Jordan also pointed to a separate incident in Milwaukee, where he said a judge allowed “the bad guy out the back door” as federal agents arrived to make an arrest, citing it as an example of local obstruction of federal immigration enforcement.
“This is about ICE agents doing their job, enforcing the law, and being targeted or undermined by local Democratic communities,” he added.
“We want to have the hearing where we talk about what happened in New Jersey last week, but also the broader concerns with ICE agents and what they’re doing. They are enforcing the law, and implementing the law, and local communities are making it tough on them,” Jordan said.
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The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight will hold a “Examining Threats to ICE Operations” hearing on Tuesday, May 20, at 2:00 p.m. EST in the Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing comes in response to a recent protest at the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. It will focus on what Republican lawmakers describe as increasing efforts by local governments and advocacy groups to obstruct federal immigration enforcement. The hearing aims to assess the operational challenges ICE agents face and the broader implications for national security and public safety.
Subcommittee members are expected to explore how sanctuary policies, local non-cooperation, and political activism may be interfering with the agency’s ability to carry out its mission. Witnesses scheduled to testify include Andrew Arthur, a legal policy expert from the Center for Immigration Studies, and former ICE officials Scott Mechkowski and Charles Marino, both of whom held leadership roles in the agency’s New York Field Office. Their testimony is likely to highlight both the practical and political pressures confronting ICE personnel in the field.