Aguilar Calls for Noem’s Removal After Ruiz Says Adelanto ICE Facility Barred Oversight Visit

Rep. Pete Aguilar opened an emergency press conference in downtown San Bernardino on Jan. 28 with four demands for the Trump administration: remove Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, halt federal immigration operations in Minnesota and Maine, bar the Department of Homeland Security from interfering in investigations into the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, and pass reforms aimed at stricter accountability for immigration enforcement.

“DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must be fired or we will remove her through impeachment,” Aguilar said.

Aguilar, joined by Rep. Mark Takano and Rep. Dr. Raul Ruiz, delivered the message from across the street from the ICE field office, alongside immigrant-rights advocates including the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), and the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

Aguilar framed the press conference around what he described as a rapidly escalating pattern of violence by federal immigration agents and the lack of transparency surrounding enforcement operations and detention conditions.

“Now, this weekend, the American people watched with their own eyes as federal immigration agents executed a peaceful protester in Alex Pretti,” Aguilar said. “Alex Pretti was a VA nurse who dedicated himself to serving veterans and saving lives, only to have his taken in the most horrific way possible. What was the Trump administration’s response? To cover up the truth and to slander Alex as a domestic terrorist and a violent assassin.”

Aguilar said the cases of Pretti and Renée Good marked a breaking point.

“For a year, Americans have witnessed ICE’s complete disregard for human life. The killings of Alex and Renee Goode are the latest and last straw,” Aguilar said. “People are dying in detention centers. Children like 5 year old Liam Ramos are being snatched after preschool. Masked ICE agents and Border Patrol agents are invading homes without warrants. And protesters are being murdered for exercising their constitutionally protected rights.”

But the most immediate flashpoint emphasized by lawmakers and advocates was what happened earlier that morning in the High Desert: Rep. Ruiz said he was denied entry to the Adelanto ICE detention facility during a scheduled oversight visit — the second time he said he has been blocked after attempting to follow the facility’s stated process.

“They read me a script saying that I needed to give seven day notice, read an email that I was supposed to email and then when I informed them that I did that, [even though I believed that giving seven day notice and their process was illegal and was confirmed by the December 17, 2025 ruling on the  lawsuit Neguse et al. v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement et al., which I’m one of the plaintiffs, they said that their new process since January 8th requires a consent and acknowledgement of that email,” Ruiz said. “And since I didn’t get it even after I sent the initial email on January 20th and then again on January 26th informing them of my arrival, they denied me because they didn’t respond.”

Ruiz said the policy effectively allows ICE officials to prevent oversight simply by ignoring a lawmaker’s request.

“So what that means is that they can willfully choose to ignore a member of Congress’ request and state that if you did not follow the process and we did not respond, then you cannot enter. So what’s the whole point of a process?” Ruiz said. “So that means it doesn’t matter if there are seven days, it doesn’t matter if it’s 30 days or 40 months. If they choose not to respond, they choose to violate the law and not allow a member of Congress who has the constitutional right to provide observation and investigation and oversight and federal agency that we are funding. And that is dangerous for the American people.”

Ruiz linked the denial in Adelanto to what he said are urgent concerns about medical neglect, overcrowding, and deaths in custody, referencing the case of Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz, a 68-year-old Honduran national who was in ICE custody pending removal proceedings and died Jan. 6 after being transferred to a hospital in Indio for medical evaluation. Yanez-Cruz was transferred to a medical unit on Jan. 4 after reporting chest pain and later died at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased at 1:18 a.m. PT.

Ruiz described severe health complaints and argued that such incidents are not isolated.

“He received no help as he suffered from severe chest pains and stomach pain. But he was given only pills and neglected and these are no isolated incidents,” Ruiz said. “In the first two weeks of 2026 alone, at least six people have died in ICE custody.”

Ruiz said oversight is necessary because the public cannot see what happens inside federal detention centers.

“If they are brutalizing and killing individuals in open daylight in front of individuals who are observing and recording, what are they doing behind closed doors in these detention centers?” Ruiz said.

He added that his office has heard reports about “shelter and overcrowded spaces” and people being unable to access medications for chronic illnesses, and said he is working to introduce the “Humanitarian Standards for Individuals in ICE and CBP Custody act” “in order to prevent deaths and to protect human dignity.”

Ruiz also said fear is spreading beyond noncitizens to U.S. citizens who, he argued, may be stopped and questioned by unidentified armed agents.

“US Citizens are living in fear of having masked, unmarked cars, unidentified individuals with guns, pulling them over and demanding to show their proof of citizenship or be brutally arrested and detained,” Ruiz said. “That is not America, and that is why we must end it now and today.”

Aguilar said reforms must include measures that narrow enforcement authority and increase transparency.

“Republicans need to join with Democrats in passing reforms that include unmasking and identifying these agents, requiring warrants for enforcement actions, protecting sensitive locations like churches, schools, hospitals, stopping detention and deportation of US Citizens, and prosecuting officers who violate the Constitution and human rights and have real standards for use of force training,” Aguilar said. “Moving forward, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. We’ll accept nothing less.”

Immigrant Coalition for Immigrant Justice Executive Director Javier Hernandez said the concerns raised in Minnesota mirror what immigrant communities report in Southern California, including the Inland Empire.

“We are here because too many lives have been lost, too many families torn apart, and too many communities terrorized by federal immigration enforcement,” Hernandez said. “Federal agents operating under the Department of Homeland Security have used violence and force in ways that escalate fear rather than enhance public safety.”

Hernandez pointed to incidents he said occurred across the region — including in San Bernardino, Ontario, and Orange County — and said the issue extends beyond a single administration.

“So this is not about one administration. This is about a system of violence that has been supported and funded by our own tax dollars,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez also called for consequences when agents violate constitutional rights.

“Part of justice is also ensuring that DHS agents can be held criminally and civilly liable for violating constitutional rights and murdering civilians,” he said. “There must be real consequences for this abuse, not immunity and silence.”

Rep. Takano urged residents not to be deterred from protesting or documenting what they see.

“We all have First Amendment rights to speak our minds and to show up at protests,” Takano said. “This administration is using unprecedented tactics and deploying technology to intimidate Americans from exercising those rights.”

He also warned against what he described as profiling-based stops.

“No American should have to carry a passport to prove who they are,” Takano said, arguing that detentions should not be driven by appearance, race, or language.

Speakers also referenced a separate case in Los Angeles: the fatal shooting of Keith Porter Jr., 43, by an off-duty ICE agent, which they cited as another example of what they described as unchecked power and the need for tighter standards, oversight, and accountability.

Aguilar closed with a call for sustained pressure from residents, framing civic participation as central to forcing change.

“Community members have a voice here,” Aguilar said. “We need to make our voices heard.”