WASHINGTON – Before a congressional panel Tuesday, the chiefs of ICE and the Border Patrol defended the conduct of their agents in Minneapolis and other cities where they have been accused of using excessive force and trampling civil rights.
Top officials of agencies under the Department of Homeland Security had avoided coming under congressional scrutiny for the activities of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.
But the shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents placed pressure on Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., the head of the House Homeland Security Committee, to require the DHS officials to face lawmakers for questioning.
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So on Tuesday, Todd Lyons, the head Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Rodney Scott, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection; and Joseph Edlow, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, were called to testify about their agencies’ activities.
Lyons touted the 475,000 deportations the Trump administration has conducted in one year. He said operations involving roving bands of federal immigration agents are the result of “sanctuary” policies that ban the detention of inmates past their release dates so ICE can pick them up in a “safe and secure” place.
Lyons and Scott deflected questions about the deaths of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti and other high-profile instances where federal agents have been accused of using excessive force. The federal immigration officials said they could not comment on “ongoing investigations.”
Lyons also said the protests in Minneapolis and other cities constituted “unprecedented levels of aggressive interference” in immigration enforcement.
“These are not peaceful protests,” he said.
But the ICE chief said his agents are undeterred by the protests.
“Despite these perils, our officers continue to execute their mission with unwavering resolve,” Lyons said. “And we are only getting started.”
Democrats on the panel decried the tactics of ICE and Border Patrol agents, calling them “rogue organizations” in need of elimination and replacement or heavy reforms.
Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the committee, said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had “the blood of Americans on her hands.” Like other Democrats, Thompson said Noem should be removed from her job.
“She must go,” he said.
Exchanges often became heated and emotional.
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Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-N.Y., told the panel of witnesses that “if you don’t want to be called a fascist regime, then stop acting like one.”
Meanwhile, Republicans on the panel lauded ICE for what they said was the deportation of the “worst of the worst” criminals in their communities. The GOPers said the immigrant crackdown was necessary because President Joe Biden and other Democrats were responsible for a surge of migrants that threatened national security.
As Congress debates proposed reforms to ICE and the Border Patrol as part of a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, an agency that will run out of money on Friday, Lyons said ICE will conduct business as usual. “The president tasked us with mass deportations, and we are fulfilling that mandate,” he said.
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