FIRST ON FOX: House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is opening an investigation into threats facing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, Fox News Digital was told.
It comes as fallout continues over three House Democrats accused of “storming” a detention center in New Jersey.
Fox News Digital was told that Jordan is expected to schedule a hearing for next Tuesday, with former ICE and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials expected among the witness panel.
The hearing will cover threats against ICE operations, likely including Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey.
NEWARK MAYOR ARRESTED AS DEM CONGRESS MEMBERS STORM NEW JERSEY ICE PRISON TO CONDUCT ‘OVERSIGHT VISIT’
It’s also expected to cover the Trump administration’s advancements in cracking down on illegal immigration and threats to national security, Fox News Digital was told.
The hearing will likely be led not by Jordan’s full committee, but by the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on oversight – a panel that’s led by Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, where the Delaney Hall incident took place.
The planned move is a significant development in the situation led by one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in the House of Representatives.
Republicans have been discussing what, if any, consequences could be in store for the three Democratic lawmakers who protested Trump’s immigration policies at the Newark ICE facility late last week.
Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., Rob Menendez, D-N.J., and LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., joined Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and other protesters outside the detention center, and apparently rushed in when the gates opened to let in a bus carrying detainees inside its walls.
Democrats have contended that they had a right to enter the facility as federal officials.
But Republicans, including DHS, have accused those Democrats of “storming” in and endangering both law enforcement and detainees in a bid to score political points.
Both sides have also accused the other of assault.
WHITE HOUSE BLASTS DEMS ‘CROSSING THE LINE’ BY STORMING ICE FACILITY
GOP lawmakers and officials have suggested punishments ranging from censure to criminal charges, both of which House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., suggested were a “red line.”
Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., introduced a resolution to strip those Democrats of their committees earlier this week.
The three Democrats said in a joint statement in response to Carter, “As we all know, Members of Congress have a legal right to conduct oversight at any DHS detention facility without prior notice, and that’s exactly what we were doing last week. This week, we’re back in Washington doing exactly what New Jerseyans sent us here to do: delivering for them.”
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