ICE And Border Patrol Heads Evasive During Senate Hearing
The heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) appeared before the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee on Thursday and spouted a whole lot of nothing.
The New York Times reports that the hearing comes two days after they spoke in front of House members and refused to answer questions about the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents. While they once again were evasive when it came to questions about the shootings, Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection Rodney Scott said that he would release bodycam footage of Alex Pretti’s shooting.
When asked by Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) why Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Alex Pretti of committing “an act of domestic terrorism,” neither Scott nor Todd Lyons, the acting head of ICE, had an answer.
“So it seems to me a really big question, which means that we have to have Secretary Noem here,” Peters said.
Later in the hearing, Lyons spoke about how his family received death threats following the hearing before the House. “I went back to numerous death threats against my family,” Lyons said of the Tuesday hearings. “There was a videotape of my wife walking to work. The cartels have actually posted the schematics to my home. ICE agents feel that every day.”
I’m gonna need to see the evidence, my guy. I’m not downplaying the efficacy and lawlessness of the cartels, but I’m just not buying all these sob stories I’m hearing about ICE agents being doxxed and receiving death threats. Like, bro, you’re a high-ranking federal official, how is the DOJ not tracking where these alleged videos and death threats are coming from? I’m pretty sure what Lyons is describing is a federal crime, so if this really happened, why is no one investigating it?
It just feels like when you’re in a toxic relationship, and you’re trying to explain how what they did hurt you, but instead, they turn it around, play the victim, and expect you to apologize for being hurt.
According to CBS News, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) pressed Lyons on whether he would deploy ICE agents to polling centers during the upcoming midterm elections at Trump’s behest. “I’m talking about something I think would be extraordinary in American history, which is uniformed and masked ICE agents encircling polling places. And it’s not fantasy, it’s not made up. These are things the president and his Cabinet have suggested,” Slotkin said. “They’ve suggested invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow active-duty military to do exactly the same thing. So this isn’t someone who thinks the sky is falling. The president and his Cabinet are suggesting [this]. So you’re going to be the guy standing in the breach.”
“There’s no reason to use ICE officers,” Lyons said.
“Great. I hope that in the privacy of that meeting, when that comes down, when the president feels like he’s going to lose the midterm elections, that you don’t buckle,” Slotkin replied. “Because I think our democracy literally is dependent on it.”
As the hearings were taking place, Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan separately announced that ICE would be winding down its surge in Minnesota, but didn’t say the agency wouldn’t conduct similar surges in the future. Funding for the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, is currently in flux due to Democrats refusing to approve a funding bill unless it’s tied to legislation that significantly regulates the agency. Due to the massive influx of money ICE received in the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” the agency should be able to operate with pay if DHS is shut down, though it’s unclear what would happen to the other agencies under DHS’s watch.
I find it baffling that Republican Senators aren’t just implementing the regulations on ICE and Border Patrol, considering that their actions have turned the majority of the country against them. Immigration was supposed to be their strongest issue, and now that’s a liability for them too. We’ve got the heads of ICE and Border Patrol refusing to take accountability in hearings, the Republican Party refusing to hold ICE accountable through legislation, and they somehow think this is not going to blow up in their face by November.
It’s only February, and this year has already been too damn long, folks.
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ICE Occupation In Minneapolis Coming To An End Soon, Says Tom Homan