Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and fellow Democrat Jamie Raskin on Thursday, 29 October formally demanded personnel and disciplinary records of federal officers involved in immigration-enforcement shootings, giving the Trump administration until 10 November to comply. The request marks a significant congressional accountability push over a pattern of lethal force incidents tied to the administration's aggressive immigration crackdown.

What the Letter Demands

The lawmakers' letter calls for detailed service histories, internal complaints, criminal and civil court records, involvement in prior shootings, and any training or disciplinary measures imposed on officers after they discharged their weapons. The request was addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director David Venturella, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Rodney Scott.

Jayapal's office said the demand was prompted by concerns about officer conduct both before and after shootings — including allegations that some officers had misrepresented events or, in certain instances, reportedly boasted about using lethal force.

Scale of the Shootings

According to the two lawmakers, DHS agents have shot at least 25 people since President Donald Trump returned to office, killing six, including three US citizens. These figures are cited by the lawmakers and have not been independently verified through an official government tally.

Jayapal and Raskin argued that the volume of federal funding channelled into immigration enforcement made transparency about officers' backgrounds and post-incident conduct a matter of direct public accountability. 'It owes the taxpayers and this Congress transparency and accountability for what it is doing with our money,' they wrote.

The Marimar Martinez Case

One incident specifically highlighted in the letter involves Marimar Martinez, a Chicago woman who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent. A visual investigation published by ABC News in February reported that body-camera and surveillance footage appeared to contradict elements of DHS's initial account, in which the department had said agents fired defensively after their vehicle was rammed and surrounded.

According to the ABC report, the footage did not show a driver ramming the agents' vehicle. A judge later dismissed the criminal case against Martinez after the Justice Department sought its dismissal. CBP, in a response reported by ABC at the time of that investigation, said the officer involved had been placed on administrative leave and that significant uses of force were subject to review by a board comprising senior CBP officials alongside representatives from DHS and the Justice Department.

Congressional Context

The letter follows a Democratic field hearing held on 15 October in Austin, Texas, focused specifically on immigration-agent shootings in the state. Jayapal participated alongside Congressman Greg Casar, Homeland Security Committee ranking Democrat Bennie Thompson, and other House members. Witnesses at the hearing included legal advocates and the mother of a man killed in a shooting.

Jayapal, who was born in India and relocated to the United States at the age of 16 to attend college, represents Washington state's 7th Congressional District. She is the first South Asian-American woman elected to the House and serves as the senior Democrat on its immigration oversight subcommittee. Raskin holds the position of senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. No public DHS response to the new records request had been issued at the time of this report. How the Trump administration responds — or declines to respond — before the 10 November deadline will test the limits of congressional oversight authority over immigration enforcement.