Manhattan Rep. Jerry Nadler demanded an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security after agents briefly handcuffed one of his aides last week during a heated confrontation in his district office.
“This was totally unacceptable. The tactics were totally unacceptable. And they needed a warrant. And my office is a congressional office. It’s a completely separate branch of government,” Nadler (D-NY) raged to “CNN News Central.”
“I am demanding — I’m asking for an investigation,” he added, noting that he plans to ask House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for a probe “generally of ICE tactics, which are, frankly, very threatening to liberty.”
The incident took place May 28 after Nadler’s staff witnessed DHS agents detaining migrants in the building where the congressman’s office is located — which also contains an immigration court.
Nadler’s aides then allowed migrant advocates who had been tracking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity into their office, the congressman’s chief of staff Robert Gottheim told the New York Times.
DHS alleged that Nadler’s team had been “harboring rioters” in the congressman’s office, a characterization Gottheim flatly denied.
“Based on earlier incidents in a nearby facility, FPS [Federal Protective Service] 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,” Homeland Security officials claimed.
Video circulated on the internet over the weekend showing the confrontation and agents handcuffing a teary-eyed female staffer, who remains unidentified.
“What happened is outrageous. My first concern was for the safety of my staff member. And I didn’t say anything,” Nadler told CNN. “I decided to speak out after the DHS released their misleading and, frankly, lying story about what happened.
“DHS was upset that some of my staff members were watching them grab immigrants emerging from an immigration court in the same building, a floor below,” he added. “And they were upset that my staff invited some of the observers up to my office.
“One of my staff members said, ‘You can’t come in here, you need a warrant.’ They said, ‘No, we don’t need a warrant,’ which is incorrect. And they barged in.”
Nadler added that “a very big, heavy-set fellow, pushed my aide, a very petite young woman,” and then “shackled her and took her downstairs.”
“She was obviously traumatized.”
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