WASHINGTON — The Democrats in line to lead the House and Senate homeland security committees next year have told the Department of Homeland Security to preserve its records and to answer two years of outstanding document requests by Dec. 2, setting up oversight of immigration enforcement, spending and staffing at the department once their party takes control of Congress in January.
DHS’s top lawyer dismissed the effort. “It is unfortunate that Democrats are more interested in political shenanigans than in governing,” DHS General Counsel James Percival said in a statement reported by Fox News. “Rest assured, however, that we are well prepared to deal with this nonsense so Secretary Mullin can continue focusing on protecting the homeland.” A Justice Department spokesperson told the outlet the department is “not afraid of threats from Democrats” and that its staff has followed the law.
In a Nov. 4 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, asked for written assurances by Nov. 11 that department “records, documents, data, and information have not been and will not be destroyed, modified, removed, transferred, or otherwise rendered inaccessible.” He cited the Federal Records Act and the criminal penalties in 18 U.S.C. § 2071 for willfully destroying federal records.
The letter also renewed every request the committee’s Democrats made during the 119th Congress and asked that the documents be produced “without further delay, and in no case later than December 2, 2026.” It was copied to the committee’s Republican chairman, Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York.
Thompson and Hassan outline their agendas
Thompson, who won an 18th term last Tuesday, said in a Nov. 4 statement that he looks forward “to the opportunity to serve as Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and to hold the Trump Administration accountable.” He led the committee from 2019 to 2023.
“We will investigate the administration weaponizing DHS against Americans, its out of control immigration policies, and its blatantly corrupt self-dealing,” Thompson said in a statement quoted by Federal News Network.
In the Senate, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) is expected to take the gavel of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where ranking member Gary Peters (D-Mich.) is retiring, Federal News Network reported. “We must use every tool at our disposal to rein in this President, end this illegal war in Iran, and reverse his tariffs,” Hassan said in a statement to the outlet, adding that the committee “will investigate and expose the corruption that is hurting taxpayers and Americans.” Her office has posted openings for investigators and oversight counsel, including an anti-corruption counsel and a policy adviser on AI security, the outlet reported.
What the department has done
The administration has made immigration enforcement its top homeland security priority, and Congress has funded it. ICE has more than doubled in size by hiring 12,000 new personnel, Federal News Network reported, and much of the money in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act and this year’s Secure America Act went to ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
A former congressional investigator, Kristina Moore of the law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, told Federal News Network that ICE was a predictable first target and that investigators would ask “how are decisions made, who facilitated in making those decisions, who was hired.” Committee Democrats have also questioned staffing cuts at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and in October sought records on the department’s $464 million aircraft purchase by a Nov. 4 deadline, as The Inquisitor reported.
What changes in January
In the minority, committee Democrats could request documents but could not compel them. A committee chair can schedule hearings and, under committee rules, issue subpoenas. Until the 120th Congress convenes on Jan. 3, Garbarino and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) chair the two panels, and the department’s response to Thompson’s Nov. 11 and Dec. 2 deadlines will come while Republicans still control both committees.
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