The leaders of ICE and CBP will testify in front of the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday, marking their first appearance before Congress since the national outcry over the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.
Democrats are planning on pressing ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons and CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott on whether the agencies are shifting their posture following the Minneapolis incidents. Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said the hearing will be “just the start of a reckoning for the Trump administration and its weaponization of government.”
Committee Republicans scheduled the hearing shortly after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti on Jan. 24. Pretti’s death came weeks after a protester, Renee Good, was fatally shot by an ICE agent. The two killings, which were captured on video, shocked many Americans already concerned with how the Trump administration was carrying out its deportation plan.
The oversight hearing also comes as congressional leaders and the White House are trying to hammer out a funding deal for DHS before Friday. Top Democrats released their list of DHS reforms last Wednesday, seeking sweeping changes that the party claims are necessary to stop federal immigration agents from using brutal tactics in carrying out arrests.
Zoom out. In the weeks since Pretti’s death, President Donald Trump transferred Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino to another post and brought in border czar Tom Homan to oversee operations in Minneapolis. Homan announced shortly after taking charge that hundreds of federal agents would be leaving the city.
“I think putting Tom Homan in charge is the right thing to do,” said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), a Homeland Security Committee Republican. “Homan and the ICE director will say that these roving patrols have been stopped, and now they’re getting back to the core mission of ICE, which is to go in and remove criminal aliens.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the Trump administration officials that are testifying “should apologize to the American people for using their taxpayer dollars to unleash wicked brutality on the American people.”
Homeland Security Committee Chair Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) told SiriusXM last week that he hopes the hearing “can at least do some good to calm down the rhetoric.” Garbarino said he hopes the directors can explain more about the training that officers receive.
“I think we need to get some questions asked and make everybody feel comfortable about what ICE, USCIS and CBP are doing, what their goals are, and what they’re trying to accomplish,” Garbarino said.
The head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, is also testifying.
The three Trump officials — Lyons, Scott and Edlow — will also appear at a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing on Thursday.
