The simmering tensions between the Trump administration and House Democrats are threatening to boil over after agents of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) forced their way into the office of Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.).
The incident, which happened last week, led to the brief detention of one of Nadler’s staffers by DHS agents, who said they had entered the congressman’s Manhattan office searching for “protesters.” One agent accused Nadler aides of “harboring rioters.”
The episode has infuriated Nadler and other Democrats in the Capitol, who have long accused President Trump of ignoring the separation of powers and crashing through legal guardrails, particularly in his effort to deport people living in the country illegally. Recently, the administration has escalated its deportation campaign with an aggressive new strategy of arresting people at immigration courts, where claims of asylum are typically heard.
On Monday, Nadler called the administration’s conduct “outrageous,” and accused DHS of “lying” about the details surrounding the episode. He’s calling for an investigation into what he considers an abuse of executive power to target political adversaries.
“They barged in. And in barging in one of the offices, a very big, heavyset fellow pushed my aide — a very petite young woman — and they then said that she pushed back and they shackled her and took her downstairs,” Nadler told CNN on Monday.
“And she was obviously traumatized.”
It’s not the first time the sides have clashed over Trump’s deportation policies. Last month, the Justice Department arrested the Democratic mayor of Newark, N.J., at a migrant detention facility in the city. Days later, the agency charged Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), with assaulting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers during the same protest in Newark — charges she denies.
Yet if the dramatic episodes have enraged Democrats, they’ve also highlighted the limits of the party’s powers to counter the boundary-breaking president even as the administration has arrested migrants appearing for government-ordered hearings; deported people — including U.S. citizens — without due process; and arrested sitting members of Congress.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has suggested there would be repercussions for the administration if it crosses certain red lines defining the separation of powers. But he didn’t name them after the McIver incident, and he was similarly vague after the Nadler episode in New York.
“The administration is clearly trying to intimidate Democrats, in the same way that they’re trying to intimidate the country,” Jeffries said Sunday in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“This whole ‘shock and awe’ strategy — this, ‘flood the zone with outrageous behavior’ that they’ve tried to unleash on the American people during the first few months of the Trump administration — is all designed to create the appearance of inevitability,” he added. “But Donald Trump has learned an important lesson: The American people are not interested in bending the knee to a wannabe king.”
Nadler’s New York office is within a federal building that houses numerous government entities, including an immigration court office.
Protesters had gathered at the building to monitor actions of ICE officers amid complaints from migrant rights advocates that the agency is moving to drop cases, ending migrants’ legal processes, so that they can arrest them and place them in expedited removal proceedings.
According to reporting from Gothamist, which first broke the story, two protesters who had gathered at the immigration court said ICE officers threatened to arrest them, and a Nadler aide invited them into the congressman’s office.
“They were upset that my staff invited some of the observers up to my office,” Nadler said.
Video of the incident shows a Nadler staffer crying as she is handcuffed.
While DHS accused the congressional office of “harboring rioters,” Nadler referred to those in his office as “observers.”
DHS later clarified the agents were Federal Protective Service personnel, who provide security at federal buildings. The officials were not there to harass Nadler’s staff, the agency said, but to protect it.
But the statement does not mention that nearly two dozen people were arrested in connection with the protests.
“Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers responded to information that protesters were present inside U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler’s District Office in Manhattan, New York. Based on earlier incidents in a nearby facility, FPS officers were concerned about the safety of the federal employees in the office and went to the location to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those present. Upon arrival, officers were granted entry and encountered four individuals,” DHS said in a statement.
“Officers identified themselves and explained their intent to conduct a security check, however, one individual became verbally confrontational and physically blocked access to the office. The officers then detained the individual in the hallway for the purpose of completing the security check. All were released without further incident.”
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), whose district is just south of Nadler’s, last week also went to observe actions taken just outside immigration court rooms, where ICE officers were arresting migrants who had fulfilled their legal obligations by appearing as required.
He said masked immigration officers rebuffed his questions, including about why they were covering their faces.
While he’s condemned the short-circuiting of due process for migrants, he said the push into Nadler’s office requires disciplinary action.
“The shameful and extreme conduct by DHS officers at Congressman Nadler’s district office last week is just the latest example of the Trump administration using authoritarian tactics to bully, intimidate, and silence political opponents. [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem must initiate an investigation into this incident and take appropriate disciplinary action,” Goldman said in a statement.
“President Trump and his political lackeys in the administration may not care about the separation of powers, but the Constitution and the American people require it. We will not be intimidated or silenced, and the Administration must stop these authoritarian tactics immediately.”
