ICE chief defends his officers' actions before Congress after the deaths of 2 activists

WASHINGTON (AP) — Todd Lyons, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended his agency’s officers before Congress on Tuesday, standing behind their tactics and saying they would not be intimidated as they carry out the president’s mass deportation agenda.

Lyons was one of the three heads of agencies implementing President Donald Trump's immigration agenda to testify in a hearing called after the shooting deaths of two activists at the hands of federal officers. They faced fierce questioning from Democrats and support from most Republicans over how they are prosecuting immigration enforcement inside American cities.

“Let me send a message to anyone who thinks they can intimidate us. You will fail,” said Lyons, who blamed elected officials and activists for escalating rhetoric that he said endangered his officers. Lyons, who at various points declined to comment directly on the shootings, said his officers would not be deterred and he did not apologize for their actions.

“We are only getting started," he said in opening remarks.

Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Rodney Scott, who heads U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Joseph Edlow, who is the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, spoke in front of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Lyons and Scott said standard operating procedures were followed in the January shootings.

This is the first time all three have appeared in Congress since the department received a huge infusion of money from Congress last summer and since immigration enforcement operations intensified across the country.

Under Lyons’ leadership, ICE has undergone a massive hiring boom, and immigration officers have deployed in beefed-up enforcement operations in cities across the country designed to increase arrests and deportations.

Tuesday's hearing was called after federal officers shot and killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good, which sparked outrage across the country and demands for accountability and reform.

The ranking Democratic member of the committee, Bennie Thompson from Mississippi, called the hearing the “start of a reckoning" and said that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should be held accountable. Demanding answers in the aftermath of the Minneapolis shootings, Thompson said the department has blocked lawmakers from visiting detention facilities and needs to be more responsive to questions.

Opening the hearing, Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), chairman of the committee, called the moment an “inflection point,” but called inflammatory rhetoric and the lack of cohesion between state and local law jurisdictions, along with the deaths of U.S. citizens, “unacceptable and preventable.”

The administration says that activists opposed to its operations are the ones ratcheting up attacks on their officers, not the other way around, and that their immigration enforcement operations are making the country safer by finding and removing people who’ve committed crimes or pose a threat to the country.

During Scott’s tenure, his agency has taken on a significant role in arresting and removing illegal immigrants from inside the country. That increased activity marks a break from the agency’s traditional job of protecting borders and controlling who and what enters the country.

During his opening statement, Scott lashed out at what he called an “unprecedented level of aggressive interference and intimidation” against federal officers in the course of doing their jobs, calling “attacks” on federal officers “coordinated and well funded.”

“This is not peaceful protest,” Scott said. “No law enforcement officers should be put at personal risk simply for doing the job that we have asked them to do.”

Republican Ryan Mackenzie referenced the need for more transparency about Department operations. Mackenzie was asking Lyons about allegations that American citizens were being caught up in immigration enforcement operations and said that “greater transparency” would be “beneficial.”

Lyons said if Americans are detained in the course of immigration enforcement, they're quickly released.

One area where there has been some agreement between Republicans and Democrats has been over getting more officers outfitted with body cameras.

Scott and Lyons said thousands of officers deployed were now outfitted with body cameras, with more to come.

One Republican member of Congress suggested that it was Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino who had contributed to the escalation in tensions over immigration enforcement, especially in Minneapolis.

“I would argue, in fairness, that he escalated the situation,” Rep. Michael McCaul said.

Bovino says that if his officers use force to make an arrest, it’s because it’s warranted.

A Border Patrol agent and Customs and Border Protection officer both opened fire during Pretti's shooting death. Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer.

After the Pretti shooting, Bovino was reassigned, and Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to assume control, a move McCaul praised.

Lyons said that de-escalation was because protests had diminished, allowing ICE “to do their targeted, intelligence driven enforcement operation.”