Investigators want to know whether ICE is employing former Jan. 6 defendants, demand docs about 'violent rioters' hired
Source: Law & Crime
Jan 13th, 2026, 2:11 pm
As controversies involving federal immigration agents pile up in multiple cities, congressional investigators are demanding to know whether the Trump administration has hired anyone who was previously pardoned for taking part in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In a four-page letter on Monday, House Judiciary Democrats put the question directly and in plain terms to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
"How many pardoned January 6th insurrectionists have been hired by your respective departments?" the letter begins.
In the letter, Maryland Rep. and ranking member Jamie Raskin details how some in the orbit of Jan. 6 have since come to work for the DOJ itself in high-profile positions. Among such employees are pardoned ex-FBI supervisor Jared Wise, who now serves as senior adviser in the office of the Deputy Attorney General. Raskin also makes reference to "J6 enthusiast and defense counsel" Ed Martin, who currently serves as Associate Deputy Attorney General and the head of the DOJ's "Weaponization Working Group." Still, those references to Wise and Martin merely preface Raskin's overarching concern.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/who-is-hiding-behind-these-masks-investigators-want-to-know-whether-ice-is-employing-former-jan-6-defendants-demand-docs-about-violent-rioters-hired-by-dhs/
Full headline: 'Who is hiding behind these masks?': Investigators want to know whether ICE is employing former Jan. 6 defendants, demand docs about 'violent rioters' hired by DHS
Link to Rep. Raskin LETTER (inquiry) (PDF) - https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2026-01-12-raskin-to-bondi-doj-noem-dhs-re-j6-rioters-ice-masks.pdf
dweller
(27,940 posts)BumRushDaShow
(166,336 posts)Faux pas
(16,185 posts)that I could bet money that the ice thugs are January 6th pardoned thugs.
2naSalit
(100,365 posts)Goonch
(4,292 posts)
PikaBlue
(448 posts)and not limited to conviction regarding J6.
ancianita
(43,030 posts)A full pardon generally does not wipe or erase a conviction record; it forgives the conviction and removes legal penalties, but the record of the conviction usually remains visible in public databases and background checks, though some states (like Pennsylvania) might have specific provisions where pardoned convictions get expunged.
A pardon restores rights (voting, firearms, etc.) and removes disqualifications, acting as forgiveness,
while expungement or sealing is a separate legal process that hides or destroys the record, which a pardon doesn't automatically trigger.
The pardons cut across all fifty states, as did the convictions. So ... Let's say we find them all out, or even just many. Then what effect would that information have, if any?
If it changed the independent vote, good, but how many independents would even learn about them?
PatSeg
(52,324 posts)basic literacy tests and can barely fill out the job application. So I wouldn't be expecting any thorough background checks from these people. They'll hire pretty much anyone. They're looking for numbers, not quality applicants.
electric_blue68
(26,141 posts)Hopefully some truth will out.
Shipwack
(3,015 posts)And January 6th participants is basically a circle.
⭕️
Bev54
(13,254 posts)breach in the DHS computers. I believe it is the Daily Beast that will publish the list. I am pretty certain people will be cross checking with J6 defendants.
Bayard
(28,788 posts)And definitely J6ers,
debsy
(799 posts)Of course they are hiring pardoned J6ers, proud boys, oath keepers, and 3%ers. Theyve already shown themselves to be loyal to dumpster, why wouldnt they hire them when thats the litmus test?
ArizonaLib
(1,300 posts)I have been seeing recent pictures on cable news of Bovino's uniform displaying a black leather strap going from hisleft shoulder towards his right hip. I don't know how to upload images here, but I googled 'Gregory Bovino Uniform' under images and part way down the page of search results found the image I saw on tv. It includes another 'ICE-hole' official in the image with the same Gestapo style strap. WTF?
BumRushDaShow
(166,336 posts)
Don't know if it is part of that double-snap pouch on his hip (and whether that is on a belt or on the strap or both).
ArizonaLib
(1,300 posts)Thanks - I am having trouble getting my head around everything that is going on. I am hispanic and both sides of my family have been here in Arizona since before it was a state. Still nerve wracking.
BRDS, your work is extremely appreciated!
BumRushDaShow
(166,336 posts)is "cosplaying". But what distinguishes Bovino from many of the others in the administration, is that he actually worked for the feds as a west TX (El Paso) border patrol agent after leaving NC. But I think coming from a "broken home" like he did, and probably being exposed to and engaging in the suspect tactics deployed in TX over the years at the border, he has gone full gestapo, or better (since his great-grandparents fled Italy in the early 20th century), full "blackshirt".
Here is Mussolini -

Look familiar?
(ETA - above pic from here - Benito Mussolini | The Dictator's Playbook)
ArizonaLib
(1,300 posts)Didn't know all that about Bovino. It is helpful to know.
Can't wait for this chapter of history to end.
ArizonaLib
(1,300 posts)I have been getting caught up with Bovino and the others as monsters instead of fallible people who are temporarily permitted to smell themselves. I can't be the only one falling into this. Going to start reminding myself and my daughters of this type of stuff about those types of people.