June 2 (UPI) — U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler said Monday he wants a congressional investigation after a Department of Homeland Security officer handcuffed a staff member at the Democrat’s office in New York in the same building as immigration court.
Nadler told CNN he will send House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a letter requesting an investigation and hearing into the matter, including testimony from HHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Nadler is a former chairman of that committee.
On Wednesday, activists were protesting outside the Varick Immigration Court on a different floor of Nadler’s office in opposition to the detention of migrants by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Nadler posted Sunday on X that President Donald Trump and DHS “are sowing chaos in our communities, using intimidation tactics against both citizens and non-citizens in a reckless and dangerous manner. In the most recent and deeply troubling incident, DHS agents forcefully entered my Congressional office and handcuffed a member of my staff.”
He noted no arrests were made and “the situation was quickly de-escalated.”
But he added: “The decision to enter a Congressional office and detain a staff member demonstrated a deeply troubling disregard for proper legal boundaries. If this can happen in a Member of Congress’s office, it can happen to anyone — and it is happening.”
Nadler told CNN that DHS officers accused the staff members of “harboring rioters.
Video taken by a person inside Nadler’s office, and obtained by Gothamist, shows an aide being handcuffed by an agent with the Federal Protective Service while another agent tries to access an area inside the office.
A second staffer stands in front of the agent and asks if he has a warrant.
“You’re harboring rioters in the office,” the federal agent told her. The handcuffed aide is heard crying while someone tries to comfort her.
DHS was “upset that some of my staff members were watching them grab immigrants emerging from an immigration court in the same building,” Nadler told CNN.
HHS posted Monday on X that officers “responded to information that protesters were present” inside Nadler’s office in Manhattan.
“Based on earlier incidents in a nearby facility, FPS were concerned about the safety of the federal employees in the office and went to the location to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those present,” HHS said.
“Upon arrival, officers were granted entry and encountered four individuals,. Officers identified themselves and explained their intent to conduct a security check, however, one individual became verbally confrontational and physically blocked access to the office. The officers then detained the individual in the hallway for the purpose of completing the security check.”
HHS said all were released without “further incident.”
U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, a Democrat serving a district in New Jersey, was charged with assaulting ICE officers on May 19 during her visit to Delancey Hall ICE detention prison in Newark, N.J., on May 9.
