Democrats aired their grievances against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown at a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday, even questioning the salvation of agency leaders.
Questioning grew so contentious that Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., slammed his gavel to remind his colleagues of House “decorum” standards.
Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was questioning Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, on his salvation.
“Mr. Lyons, do you consider yourself a religious man?” McIver asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Lyons responded.
“Oh yes, well, how do you think judgment day will work for you with so much blood on your hands?”
“I’m not going to entertain that question,” Lyons answered.
“Of course not,” McIver shot back. “Do you think you’re going to hell, Mr. Lyons?”
Garbarino quickly interjected, reminding McIver and all members of “standards of decorum and debate.”
The exchange took place during the over three-hour-long hearing titled “Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security: ICE, CBP, and USCIS.” It was one of multiple contentious moments between lawmakers and President Donald Trump’s immigration officials.
The hearing comes on the heels of the administration deploying about 3,000 immigration agents to Minnesota to carry out a large immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities. Anti-ICE protests have expanded in the state after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, 37, on Jan. 24, and an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, also 37, on Jan. 7.
After Pretti’s death, Trump deployed border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to take over the enforcement operation. Since his arrival, Homan says cooperation between state, local, and federal law enforcement has improved, leading him to decrease the number of federal agents in the Twin Cities by 700.
In addition to Lyons, Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Rodney Scott, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told members of Congress on Tuesday that under Trump’s leadership, the public is safer, the border is secure, and order has been restored to the immigration system.
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is restoring integrity, accountability, and security to America’s legal immigration system,” Edlow said.
Multiple lawmakers adamantly disagreed with Edlow’s claim during the hearing, even accusing ICE agents of acting like “secret police.”
“I have a simple suggestion: If you don’t want to be called a fascist regime or secret police, then stop acting like one,” Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., told Lyons.
Goldman and other lawmakers have accused ICE of being similar to “secret police” because ICE agents wear masks.
The Department of Homeland Security claims the masks are necessary to protect the identities of ICE agents, who they say are facing a 1,400% increase in assaults over the past year.
Lyons directly rejected Democrats’ calls to unmask immigration agents, an issue that has become the central sticking point for Congress to pass a bill funding the agency.
Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., went a step further than some of her Democrat colleagues and called for DHS to be “dismantled.”
“DHS cannot be reformed. It must be dismantled, and something new must take its place. Because if we let DHS persist, it will continue to be a weapon that can be pointed at anyone the government considers the public enemy,” Ramirez said.
The Illinois Democrat then addressed Lyons, Scott, and Edlow directly, accusing them of having “weaponized the government.”
“You have supported a fascist enterprise at the expense of our constitutional rights. You have violated the law, but let me remind you: You will not always be in power. One day, you will be held accountable for your role in this dark moment in America, in our nation’s history. I guarantee it,” Ramirez warned the three officials.
Rep. Tim Kennedy, D-N.Y., accused the Trump administration of murdering American citizens, referring to the shootings of Good and Pretti by federal agents, which are still under investigation.
“We’re a nation of laws,” Kennedy said to Lyons, adding that neither he, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, nor Trump are “above the law.”
“The American people are angry, and they’re demanding accountability and justice from those giving the orders,” Kennedy said before asking Lyons, “Do you believe that Secretary Noem should resign?”
“I’m not going to comment on that, sir,” Lyons answered.
Multiple Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., have called on Noem to either resign, be fired, or be impeached following the incidents in Minneapolis.
Noem has given no indication she plans to resign, and Trump has continued to express his public support for the secretary.
The agency has stated that the immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota will continue despite the opposition.