A California congressman has invoked First Lady Melania Trump’s name in a sharp rebuke of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies, as tensions escalate over aggressive ICE raids that have swept through Los Angeles and other communities nationwide.
Rep. Jimmy Gomez, who represents a portion of Los Angeles devastated by immigration raids throughout 2025, expressed shock on Monday, November 3, 2025, that the president believes current ICE operations are insufficient. In a pointed social media post, Gomez wrote: “Haven’t gone far enough?? Any further, and ICE will be deporting Melania…”
The congressman’s remark came in response to Trump’s assertion that Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids need to intensify, despite widespread reports of harsh conditions and questionable detentions affecting immigrants across the country.
Gomez’s district includes the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, where disturbing incidents have unfolded throughout the year. In early June 2025, asylum seekers arriving for routine ICE check-ins found themselves unexpectedly detained in basement holding rooms under conditions the congressman described as inhumane.
According to Gomez, law-abiding families who had filed proper paperwork and appeared on time were held without food or water for 12 to 24 hours. One attorney reported her client was detained from 2 p.m. through the following day, while his wife and two children waited more than 12 hours without water or explanation.
The congressman detailed how overcrowding at the facility became so severe that women and children were forced to sleep outside in tents. Inside the building, lights shut off at 5 p.m., leaving families sitting in complete darkness. He described one particularly troubling case involving a 20-year-old woman held alone after her mother was detained in transit. The family had been checking in with ICE for years, their asylum process based on claims of abuse, and they were days away from a scheduled court date when detention upended their lives.
When Gomez and fellow California Democratic representatives Brad Sherman and Judy Chu finally gained access to the basement facility known as B-18 on Monday, August 12, 2025, they found a starkly different scene than expected. The processing center, designed to hold up to 335 migrants, contained only two people in one holding room.
The Congress members accused ICE of deliberately sanitizing conditions ahead of their visit. Gomez stated the agency wanted to show them nothing, preventing proper congressional oversight. The facility featured nine holding rooms with concrete floors, two toilets each, and no beds. Chu noted that while ICE detainees are supposedly held for only 72 hours, she had heard accounts of people kept there for 12 days.
Some detainees reported receiving just one meal daily. During her visit, Chu examined the food pantry, which she characterized as scanty. She expressed deep disturbance over reports that detainees lacked soap and toothbrushes.
Sergio Perez, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, visited the facility in June to see Narciso Barranco, a Mexican national whose three sons serve as U.S. Marines. Perez reported that Barranco, who had been punched and pepper-sprayed during arrest, received no medical attention despite being held for three days. At that time, rooms held 30 to 70 people each, with some forced to sleep standing up due to overcrowding.
The Department of Homeland Security disputed the criticisms. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin denied that individuals fail to receive medical care and challenged suggestions of extended detention periods. She accused politicians of complaining about ICE facilities being too clean and insisted the agency maintains higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons.
Gomez’s criticism of immigration enforcement extends beyond Los Angeles. In September 2025, he formally protested a DHS raid targeting Korean workers at a Hyundai-LG Energy Solution electric vehicle and battery plant construction site in Georgia. In a September 11 letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, he demanded transparency regarding the legal basis for the operation and clarification on whether lawful residents or U.S. citizens were detained during the sweep.
The congressman gave DHS until September 26 to respond, warning that failure to do so could trigger a congressional hearing. As the son of immigrants himself, Gomez has consistently advocated for immigrant families, supporting the Dream and Promise Act of 2025 and calling for protection of confidential taxpayer data from misuse in immigration enforcement.
His invocation of the first lady’s name represents perhaps his sharpest criticism yet, suggesting that the administration’s immigration enforcement has grown so indiscriminate that even the president’s own family might not be exempt from its reach.