Hispanic caucus members ejected from meeting about immigration raids

Removal of caucus members from meeting with Immigration
and Customs Enforcement led to shock: ‘Never before in 20-plus
years has this happened’

Lauren Gambino in Washington
Friday 17 February 2017 02.40 GMT

Two members of the Congressional Hispanic caucus said they were removed from a meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) on Thursday, just two days after the agency’s acting director abruptly cancelled a meeting with the CHC.

On Thursday, Democratic Representatives Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois and Norma Torres of California said Republicans asked them to leave a meeting with the agency’s acting director, Thomas Homan, about the rash of raids on immigrant communities.

“In 20-plus years, I have never heard of the Republicans controlling what meetings Democrats can have with officials of the executive branch and never had a staffer ask me to leave a meeting to which I am entitled to attend,” Gutiérrez said in a statement after the meeting.

Link to tweet

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said during a press conference after the meeting that Ice determined the guest list. She said the list initially excluded all members of the Congressional Hispanic caucus but that the Democrats were able to convince them to invite the caucus chairwoman, Michelle Lujan Grisham.

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