The Democrats have been largely accused of “doing nothing” in the face of the Trump administration’s unprecedented assault on American legal norms and public benefit programs. Indeed, according to some Democrats, doing nothing is the best course of action. Unfortunately for said Dems, the American people want political leaders who will, you know, lead, and do stuff, and defend them from the chaos currently unfolding throughout the federal government—and they see their elected officials’ inaction as a sign of weakness, not strength.
Well, some Democrats have made it known that, as Trump unleashes the unmitigated powers of the surveillance state on the American people, they are willing to make at least some small, token effort at doing something. One such Democrat is Rep. Rob Garcia, of California, who currently serves as the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. This week, Garcia suggested that he would help create a “master ICE tracker” that is designed to document the actions being taken by the federal police force.
Garcia made the comments during a press conference in Los Angeles, where he was joined by the city’s mayor, Karen Bass.
“Over the course of the next couple of weeks, the Oversight Committee will be launching, on their website, a master ICE tracker where we’re gonna be essentially tracking every single instance that we can verify that the community will send us information on,” said Garcia. “American citizens are being dragged off the streets by masked men and thrown into detention cells without access to a lawyer or even a phone call,” Garcia added. “No one, regardless of their background or appearance, should be living in fear of being thrown behind bars by their own government because of their race or what they look like.”
What will this tracker look like? When reached for comment by Gizmodo, Sara Guerrero, spokesperson for Oversight Democrats, said that the tracker was part of an effort to hold the current administration accountable for misconduct.
“Oversight Democrats have launched an investigation into the unlawful detention of American citizens by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security,” Guerrero noted. “We’re establishing a misconduct tracker to systematically document abuse and civil rights violations by this administration — including cases where ICE has detained U.S. citizens and violated federal law. The tracker documents unconstitutional actions after they occur — it is not a live location tool. Creating this kind of investigatory record is routine and essential in any oversight inquiry.”
She added: “We’re not tracking officers’ locations or putting anyone at risk. We’re publishing records to expose patterns of misconduct and to build a transparent public record for the American people. Our work will always protect the public, law enforcement, and the Constitution.”
Gizmodo also reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Republicans wasted no time in dissing the idea. Trump’s Attorney General, who has been criticized for her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, took to social media to decry the effort to monitor ICE’s activities. “Shutdown Democrats are already refusing to pay our law enforcement agents. Now, @RepRobertGarcia and @SenBlumenthal are trying to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs,” Bondi wrote. “@TheJusticeDept has ZERO tolerance for violence against law enforcement — we will prosecute any person who physically assaults our agents.”
On Fox News, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons also apparently addressed Garcia’s idea: “Do they track the FBI and DEA? They don’t. I wish elected officials would talk to us and see exactly who we are arresting and see the public safety steps thrown out. The men and women of ICE are being targeted for doing a law enforcement mission and it is coming from elected officials and it has to stop,” he said.
A tracker is all well and good, and it could prove to be legally useful if and when the Democrats can assume control of Congress again. That said, it’s not clear—at this point—what the tracker will look like, or how useful it will be. In the meantime, activists have compiled their own apps and platforms designed to track the alleged abuses of ICE officials. But if you have an iPhone, you might be out of luck. Apple has been very compliant with the Trump administration’s wishes and has been actively removing the apps.
