>> Continued From the Previous Page <<
After Mayor Baraka was arrested yesterday, DHS officials let us conduct our tour as is required by law. So despite the Admin’s attempts to spin this, they know we had every right to be there and enter the facility. If you ignore the spin, you’ll see there is only one accurate narrative – ours.”
Menendez even pointed to Section 527(a) of the law to back himself up. However, like most Democrat arguments, his case falls apart when you actually read the full text.
Section 527(a) indeed allows Members of Congress to enter DHS detention facilities without prior notice — but only Members of Congress. It reads:
“Sec. 527. (a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Homeland Security by this Act may be used to prevent any of the following persons from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens, or to make any temporary modification at any such facility that in any way alters what is observed by a visiting Member of Congress or such designated employee, compared to what would be observed in the absence of such modification:
A Member of Congress.
An employee of the United States House of Representatives or the United States Senate designated by such a Member for the purposes of this section.
(b) Nothing in this section may be construed to require a Member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility described in subsection (a) for the purpose of conducting oversight.”
However, Menendez conveniently left out Subsection (c), which clearly limits the exemption to Members of Congress — not mayors. In other words, Mayor Ras Baraka had no legal right to force his way inside without notice.
Online sleuths were quick to catch the deception. One user pointed out:
“Wow, amazing, absolutely amazing. That you think people are too f***ing stupid to continue reading the non-highlighted (c) which then can place 24 hour notice restriction on (a)(2). A MAYOR is NOT covered by (a)(1) and as such can be required to give 24-hour notice.”
Another added:
“It appears you ran out of yellow highlighter or deliberately omitted item “C” just below your highlighted text. Also, I did not see where it says members can use violence against law enforcement officials to stage their photo op, so there is that too.”
Even worse for Menendez and his crew, they’re also facing scrutiny for breaking another federal law — 18 U.S. Code § 111 — which makes it a crime to assault, resist, or impede federal officers while they’re performing official duties. And the ICE bodycam footage leaves no doubt: that’s exactly what went down.
As one furious American wrote online:
“The video shows your colleague in the red blazer swearing, slapping, jabbing, and grabbing ICE officers. Is that normal behavior for ‘congressional oversight’? Let me add, you and your group need to be permanently disallowed from ‘overseeing’ anything of any value. Your incompetence is documented in the video.”
No amount of spin from the Biden administration or its media allies can change the facts. Members of Congress may have some oversight privileges — but those privileges don’t extend to physical attacks on law enforcement, nor do they cover Democratic mayors throwing tantrums inside federal facilities.
The law is crystal clear — and once again, the Democrats are counting on the American people not to read it.
