Representative Tran Rejects Spending Bill that Fails to Ensure Safety for Communities, Local Law Enforcement
Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Derek Tran (CA-45) issued a statement today following his vote against the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2026, which provides funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without necessary oversight reforms to ensure the agency operates according to common-sense legal boundaries, including preventing U.S. citizens from being detained or deported.
“I am deeply disappointed that Congress missed a critical opportunity to keep our neighbors and our local law enforcement safe. While I support immigration enforcement actions that truly focus on apprehending violent criminals, I cannot support the dangerous chaos created by the Trump Administration, which has instead weaponized ICE to terrorize law-abiding families. I cannot reconcile what this legislation purports to call national security when American citizens are seeing tyranny on their own streets,” said Representative Tran. “People are scared to show up for school and work in fear of being indiscriminately targeted. Local businesses are struggling to protect the employees they rely on. Law enforcement is diverting precious resources responding to haphazard ICE raids that could be better spent elsewhere. It is past time for Congress to exercise our oversight authority over ICE’s disturbing pattern of excessive force and rein this rogue agency in.”
In response to the killing of Renee Good, an unarmed U.S. citizen, by masked ICE agents in Minneapolis, the House Appropriations Committee reopened negotiations regarding ICE funding levels included in the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act. However, the legislation failed to provide a strong framework to conduct oversight for ICE.
Representative Tran continues to closely monitor ICE activity across California’s 45th district and has cosponsored legislation to place checks on ICE’s conduct, including:
- H.R. 4176, the No Secret Police Act, to prohibit ICE agents from wearing non-tactical face coverings while on duty;
- H.R. 5973, The Stop Excessive Force in Immigration Act, to scale back the level of force permissible in immigration operations, and;
- H.R. 3172, The ICE Visibility Act, to require agents to clearly identify themselves as such when interacting with the public.
- H.R. 5653, the Trust Through Transparency Act, to require all ICE officials to wear body cameras when interacting with the public in immigration enforcement operations.
On June 12, 2025, Representative Tran, alongside Representatives Gil Cisneros (CA-31) and George Whitesides (CA-27), sent a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding answers regarding the deployment of armed forces to Los Angeles. During a recent House Armed Services Committee hearing, Tran pressed Secretary Hegseth on the militarized response to domestic protests and lack of coordination with state and local law enforcement to keep those community members who are exercising their First Amendment rights safe. Tran, joined by Representatives Cisneros and Judy Chu (CA-28), also led a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons condemning the agencies for unlawfully denying their entry to the Adelanto ICE Processing Facility during a statutorily-protected oversight visit conducted on June 8, 2025.
Since taking office in January 2025, Tran’s office has opened over 230 cases to assist constituents related to the adjudication of their immigration status with federal agencies.
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Congressman Derek Tran represents California’s 45th Congressional District. Serving his first term in Congress, Congressman Tran is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and House Small Business Committee, where he is Ranking Member of the Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations Subcommittee. Congressman Tran is the son of Vietnamese refugees, a Veteran, and fought for consumers as an attorney before entering Congress.