WASHINGTON — Two senior House Democrats, Representatives Pramila Jayapal of Washington state and Jamie Raskin of Maryland, demanded on Thursday, October 29, that the Department of Homeland Security hand over personnel and disciplinary records for federal officers involved in immigration-enforcement shootings, Jayapal's office announced and the news agency IANS reported.
Jayapal is the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, and Raskin is the ranking Democrat on the full House Judiciary Committee. Their letter was addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director David Venturella and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, according to IANS, and it sets a deadline of November 10 for the administration to respond.
What the letter asks for
The members are requesting detailed information on any DHS agents involved in shootings, including their roles, their length of service, their service histories and complaints, criminal and civil court records, involvement in other shootings, and any disciplinary actions taken against them by DHS during their tenure, Jayapal's office said. IANS reported that the lawmakers also asked whether officers involved in shootings are currently on leave, and what additional training or disciplinary action followed each incident.
“This pattern of deeply disturbing conduct from DHS officers and agents prior to or immediately following the shootings they committed is of great concern,” the members wrote, according to Jayapal's office. “DHS received more than $210 billion from taxpayers for immigration enforcement. It owes the taxpayers and this Congress transparency and accountability for what it is doing with our money.” Those are the lawmakers' characterisations; the letter itself does not establish misconduct or announce disciplinary findings against the officers concerned, IANS noted.
The cases the lawmakers cited
In Minnesota, according to the letter as summarised by Jayapal's office, ICE officer Christian Castro, who shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, was federally indicted for making false statements and arrested on state charges of assault and false reporting of a crime after he claimed Mr. Sosa-Celis attacked him. Those are charges described in the letter; they are allegations in court proceedings, not findings in this story.
In the case of Marimar Martinez, a Chicago woman shot five times, Jayapal's office said federal prosecutors were forced to drop charges against her, and said Border Patrol agent Charles Exum, who shot her, falsely claimed she had attacked him and bragged about shooting her. IANS, citing an ABC News visual investigation published in February, reported that body-camera and surveillance footage appeared to contradict elements of DHS's initial account, that the footage did not show a driver ramming the agents' vehicle, and that a judge dismissed the criminal case against Martinez after the Justice Department sought its dismissal. CBP said at the time, in a response reported by ABC, that the officer had been placed on administrative leave and that significant uses of force are investigated and reviewed.
The letter also cited Johan Sebastián Guerrero, who was shot in Maine by ICE officer David Brouillette — described in the letter as an officer with a history of violence and disturbing domestic-abuse allegations — and Oscar Bengal, who was shot while his five-year-old son was in the car by ICE officer Brendan Cuni, who the letter says is involved in multiple use-of-force lawsuits, including one alleging he tased someone six times while they were handcuffed and on the ground. Those descriptions are the lawmakers' allegations, attributed here to their letter, and have not been established as findings in the sources used for this report.
Background: why this demand is landing now
Jayapal, who was born in India and moved to the United States at 16 to attend college, is the first South Asian-American woman elected to the House, IANS reported, and she represents Washington state's 7th Congressional District, centred on Seattle. That background is part of why the demand carries particular weight for immigrant and South Asian readers: the senior Democrat charged with immigration oversight in the House is herself an immigrant, asking who the government is, in the letter's words, “arming up and sending out into American communities.”
The demand also follows an October 15 Democratic field hearing in Austin, Texas, on immigration-agent shootings, IANS reported. Jayapal participated alongside Congressman Greg Casar, Homeland Security Committee ranking Democrat Bennie Thompson and other House members, and witnesses included legal advocates and the mother of a man killed in a shooting.
No public DHS response to the new request was located in the material reviewed for the IANS report. This story will be updated if DHS, ICE or CBP respond.
What happens next
The administration has until November 10 to respond to the November 10 deadline set in the letter, according to IANS. What happens next depends on whether DHS produces the service, complaint and disciplinary records requested, and whether the Judiciary Committee's Democrats pursue further oversight if it does not. For immigrant communities — including Punjabi families in Washington state, California, New York and other diaspora hubs where ICE and CBP operations are a daily concern — the practical question the letter raises is a simple one: whether the backgrounds and past records of armed federal officers who have shot people will be put on the public record.
Sources: U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, House press release, October 29, 2026; IANS via India Tribune, October 29, 2026.