DHS and ICE Oversight

Rep. Ritchie Torres, D‑N.Y., says he will introduce the Quick Recognition Act next week to require Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officers to wear uniforms bearing QR codes that, when scanned, would display the officer’s name, badge number and employing agency. Torres argues the change is urgently needed to "unmask ICE not only physically but digitally" and calls the agency a "systemically corrupt institution," vowing to oppose any future appropriation that funds ICE by more than $1. The Trump White House is denouncing the proposal, with spokeswoman Abigail Jackson telling Fox News it would spur a "widescale doxxing campaign" and encourage protesters to interfere with operations, and citing DHS claims of a 1,300% increase in assaults on ICE officers that it blames on Democratic "smears." The article notes related moves by Rep. Shri Thanedar, D‑Mich., who has introduced a bill to abolish ICE after the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, underscoring how that incident and the administration’s Minnesota raids are driving more aggressive Democratic efforts to constrain or dismantle immigration enforcement. Critics on the right are already framing Torres’ QR‑code plan as a direct threat to officer safety, while supporters on the left see it as a basic transparency measure in an era of masked, unbadged federal agents confronting protesters.

In a new podcast interview focused on the Minneapolis ICE killing of Renee Nicole Good, California Democratic Rep. Juan Vargas said the Department of Homeland Security 'shouldn’t continue as it is' and vowed to fight to 'drastically reduce' its funding so ICE only pursues murderers and rapists. Speaking on Kate Powell’s show in an episode titled 'Impeaching Noem,' Vargas backed efforts to impeach DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, accusing her of violating the law and applauding unlawful conduct by ICE and related agencies. He argued Congress should not 'give more money' to an agency he says is 'attacking families' and called it 'criminal on our part' to continue funding current operations in Minnesota, where DHS says the agent who shot Good suffered internal bleeding after being hit by her car. The comments go further than many Democrats who criticize ICE tactics but stop short of explicit defund‑and‑rebuild talk, signaling how the Minneapolis raids and shootings are hardening a faction of the party against continued broad funding for the agency.