Tammy Duckworth fired her staffer the moment he got caught doing this.
Veronica Escobar is calling hers a hero.
Now ICE wants to know if Escobar ordered it.
He Signed Federal Forms 11 Times
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons dropped a letter on Escobar's desk Thursday that she cannot have wanted to read.
Her senior caseworker, Benito Torres, walked into Camp East Montana – the Fort Bliss detention facility Escobar has publicly demanded be shut down – and signed official G-28 attorney representation forms.
Those are federal documents that attest the signer is a licensed lawyer appearing on behalf of a client.
Torres is not a lawyer.
He did it anyway – and then ten more times after that.
ICE records show Torres made his first fake-lawyer visit in September 2025.
https://twitter.com/TexasTrump2024/status/2034963328343118170?s=20
The scheme ended January 30 when facility administrators caught someone passing a cell phone to multiple detainees.
Personal phones are banned inside ICE facilities.
When confronted, Torres dropped the act and admitted he was visiting as a private person.
The problem is that private people don't sign sworn federal legal representation documents eleven times.
What ICE Is Demanding Escobar Explain
Lyons put Escobar on notice with questions she cannot want to answer publicly.
Was Torres working for you on every date he entered that facility?
Is he a licensed attorney?
Did you know what he was doing?
Do you condone it?
Will you hold him accountable?
Escobar's response was to call Torres "a dedicated public servant" and an "Army veteran" – then pivot to attacking ICE for not responding to her letters about conditions at the facility.
She answered none of Lyons' questions.
https://twitter.com/BillMelugin_/status/2034711669486629304?s=20
Compare that to Duckworth, whose staffer Edward York claimed to be the attorney for a Mexican national with a DUI conviction who had already been deported four times.
Duckworth fired York within days.
Escobar is standing by her guy.
That is the tell.
This Is What Democrat "Oversight" Actually Looks Like
In Texas, falsely claiming to be a licensed attorney is a third-degree felony under Section 38.122 of the Texas Penal Code – carrying 2 to 10 years in prison and fines up to $10,000 per count.
Torres allegedly did it eleven times, on federal documents, inside a federal facility, while smuggling contraband to detainees.
Here's what makes this explosive beyond the criminal exposure.
Escobar has spent the last year in federal court demanding that Democrats get immediate, unannounced access to ICE detention facilities.
https://twitter.com/OffThePress1/status/2034719890070712810?s=20
Her argument – the one Democrats have used for months – is that ICE hides abuses when Congress can't walk in unannounced.
Her own staffer was doing exactly what Democrats accuse ICE of doing.
Deceiving federal officials.
Bypassing security protocols.
Operating under a false identity to reach people he had no lawful basis to contact.
Lyons didn't just ban Torres from every ICE facility in the country.
He asked Escobar directly whether any of this was authorized.
That question doesn't go away with a statement calling Torres a veteran.
It goes away with a sworn answer – or a criminal referral.
Sources:
- Louis Casiano and Bill Melugin, "Dem rep's staffer repeatedly posed as lawyer for detainees, smuggled phone into Texas facility, ICE says," Fox News, March 19, 2026.
- Stephen Dinan, "ICE bars staffer for Democratic representative from visiting detainees," The Washington Times, March 19, 2026.
- Texas Law Help, "Unauthorized Practice of Law," Texas Government Code 81.102(a); Texas Penal Code 38.122.