Congressman Robert Garcia has spent his first years on the House Oversight Committee pushing for answers he has no power to compel. On Tuesday, voters could change that.
If Democrats win control of the House of Representatives in these midterm elections, the former Long Beach mayor is in line to chair the crucial committee, whose subpoena and investigative powers could put a check on the Trump administration.
In an interview Friday, Garcia said that if given the seat, he would launch investigations into alleged corruption within the Trump family and administration along with a gamut of other targets: allegations of pay-to-play in contracting with the Department of Homeland Security, congressional stock trading, corporate profiteering, and issues and delays with the release of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation files.
Among the first things Garcia says he would do with his newfound power is hold federal immigration agents accountable. This comes with increasing urgency after federal agents descended upon North Long Beach last month and detained a U.S. citizen, allegedly breaking his arm in the process.
Garcia has already written to the DHS inspector general demanding answers about what happened, but with Democrats in the minority, he can’t use the Oversight Committee’s powers to do much more. He can write letters, hold press hearings and question witnesses, but he can’t call hearings or compel testimony without Republican consent. He says Chairman James Comer has repeatedly canceled or stalled sessions and resisted bipartisan subpoena votes.
If he takes the majority chair, Garcia said he will investigate anyone “involved in the abuses of ICE,” to include the federal agents but also administrators who train them and “set the tone” for a culture of impunity.
“It can’t just be the agents,” Garcia said. “The agents are taking direction in some cases from others, and policy is being written to encourage that level of activity and that level of elimination of due process. Accountability at all levels, and that starts at the top.”
He plans to hold field hearings, starting early next year with one in Long Beach on “abuses of ICE and DHS.”
State Sen. Lena Gonzalez, a former Long Beach City Council member, said this is the top issue she and many others want to see addressed. At recent town halls and political rallies, ICE raids were top of mind for those in the crowd, regardless of party affiliation.
“Everyone nods their head, and they’re like, ‘Please do something,’” she said.
In a statement Monday, the local immigrant rights group ÓRALE said it is counting on Garcia “to follow through with his promise” to hold ICE agents accountable.
“People’s lives depend on this accountability,” the group stated.
A packed oversight agenda
Garcia said he also wants to focus on corporate corruption, on “any CEO that has been ripping off the American public,” that he thinks is linked to the nationwide affordability crisis.
This means taking otherwise opaque topics — cryptocurrency schemes, dynamic pricing, Jared Kushner and his conflicting interests as a businessman and U.S. peace envoy, and insider trading (by Congress members and the Trump administration alike) — and tying them to the tabletop issues, like groceries and gas prices.
“No one should be profiting off the people,” Garcia said. “We’ve got to restore trust with the American public, so that’s going to take really aggressive action early on.”
Sara Sadhwani, a political science professor, says Garcia could see a lot of success by tying issues of corruption and self-dealing by the Trump administration and framing it as an affordability concern.
“The Trump family is getting incredibly wealthy, while we, the American people, are struggling to make ends meet on a monthly basis,” she said.
But experts warn there are pitfalls in Democrats overextending themselves on their ambitions. Attempting to address too many topics from the jump can easily lead to problems.
Matt Lesenyie, a political scientist at Cal State Long Beach, said success will come from moving quickly on a handful of issues and “run[ning] them to a conclusion.” He listed Iran war casualties and “economic interventions that look like collusion” as possibilities.
Lesenyie said the public wants “action and accountability.”
Much of Garcia’s success could ride on Garcia’s own ability to keep the public engaged.
The congressman has, since joining the House Oversight Committee in 2023 and rising to minority chair last June, repeatedly fashioned himself a ubiquitous thorn in President Trump’s side.
With pomp and soapbox flair, he has led a sprawling investigation into the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files, called for cabinet resignations, and launched probes into federal immigration operations in Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Most recently, he sought to block Trump’s new $230 million ballroom.
He’s built a reputation and popularity around keeping the public interested in the topics he himself is interested in, untethered to the news cycle.
“He’s the guy who will be on MSNBC or CNN every single night talking about the Epstein files,” Sadhwani said. “He is keeping it in the minds of voters, and I’m curious to see with all of the possible avenues that he can go down, assuming he steps into this position, which ones will he really pursue, and which ones will he continue to hammer into the minds of voters.”
Sadhwani said Garcia is the right person for the job because he’s “an excellent communicator,” something that — in the social media ecosystem — has become just as important as managing investigations and pursuing legal remedies.
“It almost doesn’t even matter how much evidence you show,” Sadhwani said. “It’s about, you know, sadly, in this day and age, it’s about hitting their algorithm, you know. And I think the congressman seems to really understand that.”
It all hinges on Tuesday
The scale of what is possible for Garcia and Democrats still depends on their success in the midterms.
Currently, Republicans hold a narrow 218-214 majority in the House and a 53-47 majority in the Senate, with several vacancies due to resignations and deaths.
Democrats must defend their battleground seats and flip a number of Republican-held districts in tightly contested races nationwide, according to the Cook Political Report. Tight competitions are especially fraught in Kansas, Iowa, Maine and Texas.
If they take only the House, that may limit a lot of Garcia’s ambitions. If they take both sides of Congress, that could allow for a number of new ways to thwart the president, including the power to veto presidential actions and even a path — they still need enough votes — to impeach him for a third time.
“So much rides on Democrats’ ability to take the House, but also whether or not Democrats will have the ability to take the Senate,” Sadhwani said. “That’s a really big, wide-open question right now.”