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While viewing video of federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Harry Dunn finds himself recalling the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“They are terrorizing people more than serving,” Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer, tells me regarding the immigration agents. “And law enforcement is supposed to be about serving. That is not what we are seeing now.”
For Dunn, taking apart Donald Trump’s immigration system will be a key platform in his campaign for an open U.S. House seat in Maryland, which he announced Wednesday morning. That pledge connects to his Jan. 6 experience, prompting his second congressional bid in three years.
“I’m looking to be somebody that’s going to stand in the middle, stand in the gap for the people that are suffering in this community and across this country,” Dunn said to TIME in an interview the day before his campaign announcement. “I have been doing it since January 7th.”
As one of 140 Capitol Police officers injured after Trump urged his supporters to march to the Hill to oppose Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 win, Dunn has become a vocal critic of the President’s actions that day, and an unexpected voice for officers confronting political violence while safeguarding legislators. That day, the mob threw racist slurs, smoke bombs, and punches at him. By day’s end, his own hands were bloodied from fighting back a crowd he calls terrorists.
“We are not in normal times right now,” Dunn says to me. “We are at a 9-1-1 emergency and we need a first responder right now.”
Dunn testified before the 9/11 Commission-style panel he advocated for to probe the attacks. He participated in all their hearings. He also testified against some individuals criminally prosecuted for their involvement. He received a Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Citizens Medal and wrote a memoir about the experience.
Dunn left the force in 2013. Two years ago, he pursued the Democratic nomination to represent Maryland’s 3rd district centered on Annapolis. Many prominent party figures . After placing second, he promptly endorsed his opponent, now-first-term Rep. Sarah Elfreth, and worked to help Joe Biden and later Kamala Harris defeat Trump.
“A lot of the things that I talked about during my last race, they’re happening now,” Dunn says. “Everybody was like, ‘Oh, you guys are overreacting. This guy’s not gonna be an authoritarian. There are checks and balances.’”
“We have a Congress right now that is not only just turning a blind eye to everything that he’s doing, but they’re enabling him,” Dunn says.
Dunn says he hadn’t fully committed to another campaign until the death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, killed by Customs and Border Control officers assisting ICE. That incident convinced him to run, though he has remained active in political circles since leaving the force.
Given his background and campaign launch emphasis, I asked Dunn a straightforward question: Does law enforcement merit our trust currently?
His response is revealing—and could offer a viable path for fellow Democrats seeking a balanced reply.
“There are law enforcement out there day to day who do their jobs respectfully, and they serve their communities. However, we’re seeing one apple, two apples could absolutely spoil the bunch,” he says, before criticizing the union that acts as the primary political voice for police. “The Fraternal Order of Police endorsed Donald Trump’s in his last three elections, and that includes after January the 6th.”
“So what should happen about ICE?“ I ask, considering the deaths of Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, and the Trump Administration’s immigration officer .
“It wasn’t about training. It’s about a mentality. It’s about a mindset. I don’t know how you train your way out of a mentality,” he says. “They’re arresting maids and hotel workers and farm workers and cooks and construction workers. They’re not targeting, as Donald Trump said that they would, the rapists and murderers.” (He adds quickly regarding the rapists and murderers: “Yes, they absolutely should go.”)
The filing deadline for the Maryland primary isn’t until later this month and there’s a long stretch between now and the June primary. Dunn was popular in Washington circles and with donors, but that didn’t result in victory two years ago.
This time, however, images of immigration raids in residential neighborhoods remain vivid for voters. That’s partly why Dunn’s announcement video explicitly connects Jan. 6 events to current ones. “I see the same aggression in ICE agents that I saw from the Jan. 6 insurrection: unchecked force, American citizens murders, and lies to cover it up,” Dunn declares in the launch video. “Tell Donald Trump I’m coming back to the Capitol, this time with a vote, with oversight authority, with subpoena power. … I’m ready to finish the job that I started. I will defend this country again.”
Dunn indicates he might have opted not to focus his campaign so heavily on Jan. 6 if he didn’t deem it essential, particularly since Trump returned to the White House, pardoned the rioters, and persists in distorting that day’s events.
“A lot of people say, ‘This guy just talks about January 6th,’” Dunn says to me. “I would love nothing more than to not talk about January 6th, but what I will not do is allow this administration to tell lies and falsehoods and paint their narrative as if it was a day of love and peace.”
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