Congressman Tries to Cut Pay of ICE Prosecutor with Racist X Account to $1

As a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill works its way through Congress, Congressman Marc Veasey, a Democrat who represents part of Dallas, introduced an amendment in committee Wednesday aimed to reduce the salary of James Rodden, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) assistant chief counsel who acts as a prosecutor for ICE in immigration court in Dallas, to $1. 

In February of last year, the Texas Observer reported that Rodden operates a white supremacist X account named GlomarResponder, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details that the Observer matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation. Three members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Veasey, wrote letters to ICE and DHS demanding information and investigation. In response, ICE sent a letter to Veasey stating it would address the matter and that such internal investigations can take up to 120 days, but it has otherwise not provided any information. 

Veasey’s amendment came a week after the Observer reported that Rodden, who was apparently pulled from federal immigration court schedules following the Observer’s reporting last February, had returned to immigration court in Dallas. 

“[Rodden’s] statements are disgusting, and they are dangerous, and regardless of if you are a Democrat or a Republican, they should be disqualifying for anyone entrusted with power in the United States government,” Veasey said during Wednesday’s House Rules Committee hearing. “If Congress does nothing, if the committee does nothing, then we’re sending the message that this type of behavior is tolerable, that accountability is optional, and that white supremacy can continue to be subsidized with taxpayer dollars.”

The GlomarResponder account has over 17,000 followers and has routinely posted hateful statements. In addition to posting that “America is a White nation,” that “‘Migrants’ are all criminals,” and that “All blacks are foreign to my people,” plus apparent praise of Adolf Hitler, the account has also made posts that evoke anti-immigrant violence: “Nobody is proposing feeding migrants into tree shredders,” the account posted in March 2024. “Yet. Give it a few more weeks at this level of invasion, and that will be the moderate position.”

Veasey’s amendment seeking to reduce Rodden’s salary relied upon the Holman Rule, which allows members of the U.S. House to amend appropriations legislation to cut specific programs or reduce the salary of specific federal employees. Named for Democratic politician William S. Holman, the rule has been instated and rescinded over the decades. It was most recently reinstated in 2023 when Republicans retook the majority. That same year, some Republicans considered using the rule to derail a now-abandoned special counsel investigation into Donald Trump, though the maneuver was never deployed.

“The amendment before you is simple, and it’s narrow,” Veasey said at the hearing. “It sends a clear message that we are not going to fund this man’s salary, and that Congress will not fund hate. We can stand by Nazi sympathizers and Hitler supporters, or we can do the right thing and honor the sacrifices of the men and women who died to stop the hateful spread of Nazism.”

This story will be updated with the outcome of Veasey’s amendment.

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