{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-ilhan-omar-demands-answers-about-presence-undercover-hsi-agent", "Congresswoman Ilhan Omar Demands Answers About the Presence of an Undercover HSI Agent Outside her Town Hall Meeting", "2026-08-10", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "House", "MN", "Ilhan Omar", "O000173", "omar.house.gov", "omar", "https://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "MINNEAPOLIS \u2013 Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) sent an oversight letter to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) demanding a response as to why an undercover HSI agent was stationed outside of her monthly town hall meeting in Richfield. Following nationwide concerns about the Trump Administration\u2019s use of ICE and DHS to intimidate Americans who oppose their political agenda, this action raises serious concerns about the purpose of HSI\u2019s presence at the Congresswoman\u2019s public event.\n\nIt also raises concerns about practices at HSI and ICE more broadly. It calls into question the level of training agents are receiving before being sent out into the field, given the agent claimed to have been conducting an undercover criminal operation with no prior coordination with local law enforcement near the Congresswoman\u2019s event. Importantly, it indicates that HSI is continuing to use mismatched license plates on vehicles, in violation of state law and in contradiction to earlier commitments HSI made to Rep. Omar.\n\n\u201cHSI's actions yesterday evening put an entire community at risk,\u201d said Rep. Omar. \u201cInstead of monitoring the area for those who might wish harm to me and my constituents, Richfield Police were required to devote time to investigating why an HSI agent was outside of a Congressional event in a vehicle with mismatched plates. It also raises serious and uncomfortable questions about the purpose of HSI's presence outside of my event. At best, your agent was unable to assess that the parking lot of a community center hosting a Congressional event wasn\u2019t the best place to conduct a drug operation. At worst, it emphasizes many Americans\u2019 growing concern that the Trump administration uses ICE to surveil political opponents and may interfere with our democracy.\u201d\n\nCongresswoman Omar is demanding answers to the following questions:\n\nPlease explain why an agent was detailed to Richfield Community Center on the evening of Thursday, August 6, 2026.\n\nPlease explain when and how the HSI agent and her supervisors became aware I was hosting a town hall at this location and what action that knowledge prompted.\n\nPlease provide an overview of the training the agent had completed prior to her assignment at this location, as well as how long she has served as an HSI agent.\n\nRichfield Police Department reported that they had received no advance communication of an undercover operation from HSI that would have allowed them to ensure the safety of the officer and the community, as well as support HSI's broader work to combat drug trafficking. Please explain what steps you take to coordinate undercover criminal operations with local law enforcement, and why in this instance there was no prior coordination with Richfield Police Department.\n\nPlease share details of any meetings or events I have hosted in my official capacity as a Member of Congress that HSI agents may have been assigned to observe and why. Please share whether HSI agents have observed any other activity being undertaken in an official capacity by any other local, state, or federal officials in Minnesota this year.\n\nYou can find the full text of the oversight letter here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-11T05:54:29Z", "2026-08-11T05:56:25Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-ilhan-omar-demands-answers-about-presence-undercover-hsi-agent"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7522499654442072, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}