{"id":70753,"date":"2026-04-02T19:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T00:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/dhs-releases-new-evidence-in-case-of-dem-staffer-accused-of-impersonating-ice-attorney\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T19:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T00:56:12","slug":"dhs-releases-new-evidence-in-case-of-dem-staffer-accused-of-impersonating-ice-attorney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/dhs-releases-new-evidence-in-case-of-dem-staffer-accused-of-impersonating-ice-attorney\/","title":{"rendered":"DHS releases new evidence in case of Dem staffer accused of impersonating ICE attorney"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Department of Homeland Security<\/a> (DHS) has released additional evidence it says confirms that a staffer for Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, lied about being an attorney for detainees at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in an effort to meet with them and sneak in smuggled cell phones.<\/p>\n

In March, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons informed Escobar in a letter about Benito Torres, a senior caseworker on the congresswoman’s staff, who Lyons said lied about being a lawyer for detainees in ICE custody at the Camp East Montana<\/a> center at Fort Bliss in El Paso.<\/p>\n

Lyons requested that Escobar answer several questions about Torres’ alleged actions.<\/p>\n

“Rep. Escobar refused to respond honestly. Instead, she took to X to defend Torres and gaslight the public,” DHS said Thursday.<\/p>\n

ILHAN OMAR KICKED OUT OF ICE FACILITY AFTER DHS REQUIRES WEEK’S ADVANCE NOTICE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Initially, DHS released an image of a sign-in log showing Torres allegedly claiming to be a “lawyer” visiting a “client.” ICE records show he first misrepresented himself as a legal professional in September 2025, Lyons said.<\/p>\n

A Feb. 18 memo states that, on a Jan. 23 visit to the center, Torres falsely claimed to be an attorney while requesting to see 22 detainees. It was determined that he was not a legal professional, the memo said.<\/p>\n

The most recent incident allegedly happened Jan. 30.<\/p>\n

ICE DIRECTOR STANDS HIS GROUND AFTER SWALWELL BLOWUP, SAYS DEMOCRATS ARE \u2018MISLEADING THEIR CONSTITUENTS\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Torres lied about being an attorney in order to gain access to an ICE detention<\/a> facility,” a DHS statement said. “He misrepresented himself repeatedly over the course of several months, talking directly to detainees even though he was NOT their legal counsel. He even passed a phone around<\/a> multiple detainees during a January 2026 visit, a dangerous violation of security protocols.<\/p>\n

“Actions like Mr. Torres\u2019 are meant to undermine ICE\u2019s statutory mission to enforce immigration laws and remove illegal aliens from the interior.”<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital has reached out to DHS and Escobar’s office.<\/p>\n

SHUTDOWN FLIPS ICE OVERSIGHT FIGHT AS DHS MOVES TO BLOCK SURPRISE LAWMAKER VISITS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

At the time of the initial allegations by DHS, Escobar described Torres as “a dedicated public servant” and “Army veteran,” saying the accusations against him were “unfounded.”<\/p>\n

She also criticized the facility and accused the Trump administration <\/a>of retaliatory tactics.<\/p>\n

“It is worth noting that ICE has refused to respond to multiple letters I\u2019ve sent about Camp East Montana regarding deaths, including a homicide; outbreaks of diseases including COVID-19, measles, and tuberculosis; waste, fraud, and abuse; a lack of legal representation or medical care; and so much more,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This administration has a history of engaging in intimidation tactics against Members of Congress as well as continuously attempting to obstruct our ability to provide oversight.<\/p>\n

ICE DIRECTOR REFUSES TO RESIGN UNDER PRESSURE FROM ERIC SWALWELL NOT TO ‘SIDE WITH KILLERS’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“I stand proudly by the members of my team who have demonstrated nothing but dedication and integrity to serving our nation and our community,” Escobar added.<\/p>\n

The congresswoman has previously demanded the Camp East Montana center be shut down, describing it as “disastrous and inhumane.”<\/p>\n

“The United States already has the largest immigration detention network in the world, and these added facilities serve only as tools for the administration\u2019s inhumanity,” she wrote in a March post on X.<\/p>\n

Torres has been banned from ICE sites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released additional evidence it says confirms that a staffer for Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, lied about being an attorney for detainees at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in an effort to meet with them and sneak in smuggled cell phones. In March, acting ICE Director … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}