Trump’s immigration policy target of hearings in Congress

Dems increase scrutiny of his administration

Congressional Democrats waited two years for an opportunity to scrutinize the Trump administration’s immigration policies, and on Wednesday they’re going all in.

Congress will host four simultaneous committee hearings – three in the Democrat-controlled House – that will analyze a wide range of actions taken by President Donald Trump to crack down on legal and illegal immigration.

The hearings will feature the first testimony before the new Congress from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan and Homeland Security’s inspector general.

Democratic leaders have been stepping up their oversight of the Trump administration in recent weeks, issuing their first subpoena of the Trump administration last week and requesting documents Monday from 81 “agencies, entities and individuals” with ties to Trump.

Wednesday’s hearings will explore the origins and implementation of the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy that led to at least 2,800 separations of migrant families, conditions in Border Patrol facilities that led to three deaths in three months, the decisions to terminate temporary deportation protections for more than 1 million people, and other controversial moves made by the Trump administration.

“It’s going to be a day where the sunlight shines on what the Trump administration has been doing,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, which advocates on behalf of immigrants. “It’s long past time that the administration has had to answer some real questions.”

Administration officials argue they are simply carrying out the mandate given to them when Trump won the 2016 election largely by vowing to regain control of the nation’s immigration system by whatever means necessary.

That’s why administration officials see Wednesday’s gauntlet of hearings as little more than a series of political stunts aimed more at the 2020 elections than any actual concern for immigrants or the system they use to enter the country.

“(Democrats) are trying to set the stage for the election next year, trying to do opposition research on the taxpayer’s dime, trying to shape the discussion of the issue more to their liking,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for lower levels of legal and illegal immigration.

“They’re doing what comes natural to an opposition party. But because it’s Trump, they’re dialing everything up to 11.”