WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, Todd Lyons, the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended his agency's agents in front of Congress. He said they wouldn't be scared while they carried out the president's plans for mass deportation.
Lyons was one of three agency directors who had to appear in a hearing held after two Americans were shot and killed by federal authorities. The hearing was about President Donald Trump's immigration agenda. Democrats asked them tough questions about how they are enforcing immigration laws in American cities, but most Republicans backed them.
"Let me convey a message to anyone who believes they can scare us. "You will fail," Lyons declared, blaming political leaders and protestors for using language that he said put his troops in danger. At times, Lyons refused to say anything explicitly about the deaths of the two Americans, but he maintained his officers would not be stopped.
He said in his introductory remarks, "We are just getting started."
A lot of people have been talking about Trump's immigration campaign lately, especially after the shootings in Minneapolis. People have also criticized the agencies for a lot of policies that they argue violate the rights of both immigrants who are being arrested and Americans who are opposing the enforcement efforts. Tuesday's hearing is unlikely to ease the tensions that have been building over Trump's main policy since he took office.
The hearing lasted around three and a half hours and was held in front of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Lyons, the acting ICE director, Rodney Scott, who is in charge of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Joseph Edlow, who is in charge of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, all spoke.
Agency leaders testify as DHS faces a funding lapse
This is the first time all three have been in Congress since last summer, when the department got a lot of money from Congress and immigration enforcement operations got stronger across the country.
ICE has hired a lot of new people under Lyons' direction, and immigration officers have been sent out on bigger enforcement operations to make more arrests and deportations.
The executives appeared at a time when public approval for how their agencies are carrying out Trump's immigration strategy was going down. Democratic legislators in Congress are asking for limits on immigration officers before they agree to give money to the Department of Homeland Security. The leaders of the agencies said that the country would be less safe if federal funds ran out at the end of the week.
After federal agents shot and murdered Alex Pretti and Renee Good, there was outrage across the country and calls for responsibility and change. This led to the hearing on Tuesday. Lyons and Scott claimed that the investigations into the shootings in January were following routine operating protocols.
The session got emotional, with Democrats comparing the enforcement efforts to Nazi Germany and wondering how the administration officials would be assessed. The chairman had to gavel the legislators back to order at times.
Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, said the meeting was the "start of a reckoning" and that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should be held responsible. Thompson said the department has stopped lawmakers from going to detention centers and has to answer inquiries more quickly.
Thompson stated, "Every American should be angry."
Republicans brought up practices from the Biden period that let a lot of migrants into the country. They stated that the Trump administration has closed the U.S.-Mexico border and is ending "lawlessness" in the immigration system.
