Trump’s immigration chiefs face questions in Congress after protester deaths

The heads of the agencies carrying out US President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda were giving evidence in Congress on Tuesday, parrying questions over how they are prosecuting immigration enforcement in American cities.

Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Rodney Scott, who leads Customs and Border Protection, and Joseph Edlow, the director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, were called to appear before the House Committee on Homeland Security amid falling public support for immigration enforcement.

Their agencies are flush with cash from Mr Trump’s big tax-and-spending law, but Democrats are threatening to shut down the Department of Homeland Security on Friday night if Republicans do not agree on new limits aimed at forcing agents to follow the law and the Constitution following killings in the streets and expanding detentions.

Mr Trump’s immigration campaign has been heavily scrutinised in recent weeks after Homeland Security officers killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

The agencies have also faced criticism for a wave of policies that critics say trample on the rights of both immigrants facing arrest and Americans protesting against the enforcement actions.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has undergone a massive hiring boom, deploying immigration officers across the country.

Mr Lyons is likely to face questioning over a memo he signed last year telling Ice officers that they did not need a judge’s warrant to forcibly enter a house to arrest a deportee, a memo that went against years of Ice practice and Fourth Amendment protections against illegal searches.

Opening the hearing, Andrew Garbarino, chairman of the committee, called the moment an “inflection point” but warned those in attendance against making any comments offensive to Mr Trump or Vice President JD Vance.

The New York Republican called the increase in rhetoric and lack of cohesion between state and local law jurisdictions – along with the deaths of US citizens Mr Pretti and Ms Good by federal officers – “unacceptable and preventable”.

Bennie Thompson of Mississippi said “every American should be outraged” at Homeland Security’s actions, and that both the agency and its secretary Kristi Noem “must be held accountable”.

Mr Thompson then displaying Ms Good and Mr Pretti’s photos and held a moment of silence.

Demanding answers in the aftermath of the Minneapolis shootings, Mr Thompson said the department has blocked members from visiting detention facilities and needs to be more responsive to questions.

Mr Lyons said officers will not be dissuaded from their mission – even in the face of intimidation from the public.

“The family of Ice personnel have been made to feel unsafe in their homes,” he said.

He said even his own family has faced harassment. But he warned that those trying to intimidate Ice officers “will fail”.

“We are only getting started,” he said.

The Ice director listed statistics to show how well his agency has been carrying out the president’s immigration agenda. Mr Lyons said Ice had conducted 379,000 arrests, and removed more than 475,000 people from the country in 2025.

“The president tasked us with mass deportation, and we are fulfilling that mandate,” Mr Lyons said.

He also said the money provided by Congress is enabling the agency to increase how many people it can detain at any one time and beef up the number of daily removal flights.

During one pointed exchange, Mr Lyons declined to apologise to the families of Ms Good and Mr Pretti, or comment on the Trump administration’s claims that the two Americans killed during protests over the immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis were involved in domestic terrorism.

Mr Lyons said he welcomed the opportunity to speak to the families, but would leave the comments to others in the administration.

Eric Swalwell, a Californian Democrat, pressed him to resign. Mr Lyons declined.

Mr Lyons got into a heated exchange with Democrat Dan Goldman, of New York, who compared masked Ice agents with the actions of those in Nazi Germany and the former Soviet Union.

The Ice chief interjected that the congressman was asking “the wrong type of questioning”, but Mr Goldman cut him off.

“If you don’t want to be called a fascist regime or secret police, then stop acting like one,” Mr Goldman said.

“This is not the America I know and love,” he said.

Mr Goldman went on to call explanations as to why federal immigration agents were wearing masks during operations because of fears of so-called doxing “outright bogus”.

Democrats repeatedly brought up the issue of immigration enforcement officers wearing masks as they carry out their jobs.

Tim Kennedy, a Democrat from New York, pointedly asked Mr Lyons if he would commit to making his officers take off their masks and requiring them to wear “standard uniforms with identifiable badges”.

Mr Lyons answered with one word: “No.”

Mr Kennedy called that a “sad response.”

“People who are proud of what they do aren’t hiding their identity,” Mr Kennedy said.

Mr Lyons has said repeatedly that he supports officers who feel that they need to wear a mask to protect their identities and their families.

A federal judge has blocked part of a California law that would ban federal immigration agents from covering their faces, but ruled that the agents are required to wear clear identification showing their agency and badge number.

Judge Christina Snyder said she issued the initial ruling on Monday because the state’s mask ban as enacted does not also apply to state law enforcement authorities, discriminating against the federal government.

She said future legislation would pass muster if it applies to all law enforcement agencies.

“The court finds that federal officers can perform their federal functions without wearing masks,” she wrote. The ruling will go into effect February 19.

California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers from wearing facial coverings.