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
= new reply since forum marked as read
that I could bet money that the ice thugs are January 6th pardoned thugs. 
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?
