Washington Examiner investigative reporter Mia Cathell testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration on Wednesday.
The hearing was centred on “ICE Under Fire: The Radical Left’s Crusade Against Immigration Enforcement.” Cathell was one of three expert witnesses on the topic, which also included Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd and Chicago Flips Red Vice President Danielle Carter-Walters.
This subcommittee includes, among others, Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ashley Moody (R-FL), and Alex Padilla (D-CA), who represent states where ICE recently held operations. Following a subsequent protest in Charlotte, North Carolina, Cathell reported on the protesters’ ties to a Party for Socialism and Liberation, a foreign-funded activist group.
“PSL chapters such as the ones operating in Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee, continue to convene ICE-out rallies to stop the raids,” Cathell told the subcommittee. “Most recently, PSL led an emergency march in Charlotte where activists were seen waving Mexican flags to drive out Border Patrol and ‘defeat the deportation machine.’”
Cathell said PSL Charlotte began circulating “call to action” material days before the Border Patrol arrived in North Carolina. She added that a coalition of local and national organizations sponsored the protests, which also played a role in the nationwide No Kings movement earlier this year.
“Their shared objective is to obstruct the enforcement of U.S. immigration law, legislation that Congress enacted,” Cathell said.
“Simply put, the men and women of ICE and law enforcement officers, tasked with carrying out their congressionally mandated duties. They are under increasing threat of targeted attacks and hostile demonstrations that often devolve into violent clashes. At this rate, I fear more political violence is to come unless federal officers take further steps to protect our federal officers.”
The Democratic members of the subcommittee boycotted the hearing and left shortly after Padilla (D-CA), the ranking member, gave an opening statement, before Cathell addressed the senators. Padilla condemned violence against law enforcement, but said the Trump administration is ignoring “the fundamental rights to due process.”
The Washington Examiner contacted Padilla for comment.
FOREIGN-FUNDED SOCIALIST GROUP BEHIND ANTI-ICE UPRISING IN CHARLOTTE
In June, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, named the PSL in a letter as part of a congressional investigation into the non-governmental organizations that funded the Los Angeles riots. Hawley cited “credible reporting,” suggesting that the PSL provided financial resources or logistical support to individuals engaged in “lawless mob actions.”
White House border czar Tom Homan said Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to increase its operations in New York City. Earlier this month, the city elected Zohran Mamdani as its new mayor-elect, and President Donald Trump said Mamdani wants to meet with him in Washington, D.C.
