Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-Glen Ridge), who campaigned on an explicit promise to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is now a member of the panel that oversees that agency and the rest of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.
House Democrats approved Mejia, who was elected in a special election last week and sworn in yesterday evening, for a seat on the Homeland Security Committee.
“A first-generation American and a fighter for the least, the lost and the left-behind throughout her career, Analilia will be an invaluable force on the Committee, who will push forward our values as a nation of immigrants that is anchored in the rule of law,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement.
Mejia’s predecessor, Gov. Mikie Sherrill, sat on the Armed Services Committee throughout her tenure in the House. That seat, however, was filled by fellow New Jersey Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran) shortly after Sherrill departed her House seat; Mejia instead is taking the Homeland Security posting that was held until recently by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-California), who resigned last week amid a sexual harassment scandal.
Assuming Mejia wins re-election to a full term later this year, her committee assignments may be reshuffled once the 120th Congress takes office in January 2027.
Two other New Jersey Democrats, Reps. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon) and LaMonica McIver (D-Newark), already serve on the Homeland Security Committee, and both have used their seats to directly confront high-ranking Trump administration officials like former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. In her inaugural House speech last night, Mejia signaled that she’s likely to bring similar energy to her work in Congress and on the Homeland Security panel.
“The 14th Amendment defined citizenship and guaranteed due process and equal protection of the law to all Americans,” Mejia said. “In a moment in which a state-sanctioned vigilante group threatens due process and equal protection, and our highest court questions citizenship clearly defined in the Constitution, it is important for us to strive to understand the beginning so that we may protect what we hold most dear all the way through to the end.”