The Hearing Room Homeland Security Immigrations & Customs Officials Testify at Oversight Hearing - Pt. 2
Congressman Gonzalez grills ICE officials on Fallujah-style protest security, doxxing risks, and body camera transparency while citing pepper spray abuse against a child and restrained detainees. Rep. Strong challenges Ma’orkas’ "secure border" claim, contrasting it with ICE’s 1,477 terror arrests and 7,800 gang takedowns, but Rep. McGuyver demands accountability for deaths like Keith Porter Jr. and detained autistic teen Stephen Edlo. Sanctuary policies force high-risk public arrests—e.g., Trende Aragua releases in Northampton—while cooperative states like Tennessee see crime drops. Debates over racial profiling, fascist comparisons, and the $1M+ cost of border enforcement alternatives reveal deep divides: ICE insists on intelligence-based enforcement but faces accusations of systemic brutality, with calls for abolition or prosecution overshadowing claims of public safety necessity. [Automatically generated summary]
Well, you better hope you get been pardoned because you will be held accountable for the absolute disregard of the law your agencies have shown over the past year.
Your agencies have lost the trust of the American people with millions taking to the streets to protect the illegal actions of your agencies.
And that's why I introduced a bill in the United States Congress to abolish ICE.
ICE must be abolished.
I also co-sponsored a bill to impeach Secretary Christine Ohm.
And I believe Christine Ohm must be impeached.
And this Congress must do everything in its power to carry out oversight actions against these rogues departments, including if the United States is a very important part of a witness has requested a break.
I now recognize the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Gonzalez, for five minutes of questions.
unidentified
Thank you, Chairman, and thank you, gentlemen, for your service to our great country.
I was speaking to some agents that were deployed from Texas to Minnesota just asking for the ground truth of what was happening.
And one of the things that stood out to me is one of the agents said, Tony, it reminds me a lot of Fallujah.
Having someone that served in Fallujah, that caught my attention.
And so my question first is to you, Commissioner Scott, is on the safety of our agents.
In particular, I see that these task forces work, these anti-gang, these anti-terrorism task forces.
But thinking of Fallujah reminds me of we were fighting a war that was the Persian Gulf when the world had changed.
And so my question is, is there a way we can protect our law enforcement, our federal law enforcement agents, in particular, through, I've got a bill in particular through bulletproof glass or ballistic windshields.
Is that something you think that could help protect the law enforcement officers that are on the front lines?
I think that can help protect the officers on the front lines, but it goes much farther than that because things have changed.
So the tactical infrastructure at the border, the bulletproof vests, all of that, that helps tremendously.
But we're fighting a different fight now.
The reason you saw so many people surged into LA at one point and then now into Minneapolis was because we had to surge additional resources in to protect the ICE agents that were literally just going to try to make a lawful arrest.
So we had to put in two teams, one to do the arrest and another one to deal with the protesters.
Luckily, CBP, well, not luckily, unfortunately, CBP has had to build out this capability over the years because we had been dealing with increased protests at the border, mass incursions.
So we trained our people how to do crowd control.
But let's not miss the fact that we have coordinated, well-funded, and I think insurgencies or terrorist organizations, however you want to call it, literally trying to prevent legal laws from being enforced in the United States.
That is a dramatic change.
That's why we've had to shift.
So, we got to figure out how to protect our officers and agents more holistically on social media.
How do we keep them from being doxxed?
When somebody goes to, like, like did to Director Lyons, they follow his kid home and then have protests in his front yard and then put it out live on video.
That needs to be a crime.
I don't want to violate anybody's right to free speech, but going into your front yard and harassing your family just because you're a law enforcement officer, that should not be a protected action.
The world has changed, and we need to change with it to make sure our federal law enforcement officers and their families are protected.
My next question is for Director Lyons.
Body cameras have been deployed in Minnesota.
I think transparency helps regain public trust.
Is there any plan to release any of the footage to the public?
That's one thing that I'm committed to: full transparency.
And I fully welcome body cameras all across the spectrum and all of our law enforcement activities.
Idiot, sir, body camera for you will be released.
unidentified
I agree with you completely.
Everyone assumes this body camera footage is bad footage.
In so many cases, it's the exact opposite.
And we get to show from the officer's lens what exactly they're dealing with on a daily basis, not just a 15-second clip we see on TikTok or whatever it may be.
I'm very pleased to hear the releasing of more public footage.
My next question is for you, Commissioner Scott.
As a member of Congress, I have a very similar question really for all of us.
As a member of Congress, what can I do to make sure what happened in Minnesota doesn't happen in my community?
Put laws in place that protect our officers and agents so they can go out and do their job confidently and know they really truly have the backing.
And then I got to plug it, actually fund the programs.
So when body cameras got rolled out to CBP, the technical capability of the camera got rolled out, but the funding for the personnel to support the programs and the data, that can drain basically all your other operations.
So fund the entire program so that we can be transparent and that we can make sure America knows what we're doing because that trust is critically important.
Thank you for that.
My next question is to Director Edlow.
Too many times we talk about the enforcement side, which I think is very important.
We see the millions of criminal aliens that are loose in our country.
We got to go out there and keep our community safe.
But we need to be talking more about the legal aspect of it, the people that are doing it the right way.
I was very encouraged to see 65,000 visas get released not too long ago.
The question I have is: what are the details?
What is the timeline behind that?
What is the purpose of those?
Can you specifically speak to the legal visa process?
Well, you're referring to the 65,000 that were the supplemental H-2Bs.
Exactly right.
There's 60,000 or 65,000, 66,000 that go out every year at two times in the year.
And then Congress has for many, many years given the department the authority through the secretary to increase that based on the needs of the country.
So those visas were released.
unidentified
I don't remember exactly when the time has expired.
Now, this is a family of United States citizens who were out to get groceries at a Sam's Club in Chicago.
When they arrived, they could see that there was a chaotic operation in the parking lot.
They turned their vehicle to leave, at which point your agents sprayed pepper spray out of their vehicle and into the driver's side window of the Veraza's family vehicle.
Is it proper procedure to aim pepper spray into the window of a moving vehicle?
And you know as well as I do that in any other law enforcement agency, if an officer did this, they would be put on leave, investigated, and likely disciplined.
Were any of your agents ever investigated or disciplined for this incident?
unidentified
I'll have to get back to you on this incident.
I believe it's still an ongoing investigation, but we have at least two.
So as you can see, the agent sprayed pepper spray at close range directly into the face of an individual who had already been pinned to the ground by three other agents.
And there's a picture of this behind me to give you a better view.
Is this proper procedure for the use of pepper spray?
unidentified
I cannot comment on that because you're only showing one piece and that's the same thing.
Your agency has repeatedly been caught on tape using unnecessary violence against civilians, and you can't even tell me if any of these agents have been investigated or disciplined.
You are supposed to be making people safer, and instead your agents are being unnecessarily violent.
And that is why the Trump administration has lost the trust of the American people on immigration.
Understand, it's not just the actions of the agents in the field.
It is the lack of accountability from the top that has caused public trust to erode.
And there need to be major reforms before we vote to give any of you any more funding.
Your agencies need to act like other law enforcement agencies, take off the masks, wear badge numbers, enforce discipline with real standards of conduct.
But accountability starts at the top.
Christy Noam is completely unfit and should be removed from office.
And all of the operations that we just watched were overseen by Commander Gregory Bovino, who himself engaged in excessive use of force.
He even admitted that he lied to a federal judge when he claimed he had been hit by a rock prior to throwing a tear gas canister at a crowd of civilians.
But then after the footage came out, and that turned out to be not true, he admitted that he had lied about it.
Mr. Scott, what disciplinary action do you plan to take against Mr. Bovino?
Thank you, Chairman Garberino, Ranking Member Thompson, and thank you to all our witnesses for being here today.
Let me start with the simple facts.
The border is now closed.
Fentanyl poisonings are down by more than 35 percent.
I thank each of you for your service to our country.
I remember in April of 23 when then Secretary Ma'orkas testified before this very committee that the U.S. border was, and I quote, secure, close quote, and not open.
At the same time, under his leadership, illegal alien populations surged to over 11 million.
They were coming from more than 160 different countries as migrants were released into our country by the millions.
That's what the Biden administration, in concert with Secretary Alejandro Ma'orcas, did to America.
They sold America out.
The consequences of their failures were predictable.
When the United States failed to enforce its border, the winners are not legal immigrants or American communities.
It's the cartels, drug smugglers, human traffickers, and violent criminals.
We didn't need new laws to stop this crisis.
We needed a president willing to enforce the laws already on the books.
President Trump did exactly that.
Another promise made, another promise kept.
And today, the number of illegal aliens being released into our country is zero.
Sir, I can speak from personal experience, having served multiple administrations, that the men and women of ICE are out there every day doing the law as it's written.
Sir, if you look at what ICE has done, if you look at the amount of, as I said earlier, the amount of known suspected terrorists that we removed from the country, we arrested 1,477 this year and removed 1,480.
Just that impact alone, along with the 7,800 gang members, makes a significant impact on public safety and national security.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service plays a role in administering legal immigration and protecting the integrity of the system.
When immigration enforcement is undermined or treated as illegitimate, how does that affect U.S. CIS's ability to manage lawful pathways, prevent fraud, and maintain public confidence in the legal immigration process?
It makes it absolutely impossible, Congressman, and that's why we've done everything we can to administer that system now and to not cut corners that were previously cut during the last administration.
Sir, if the men and women of ICE are conducting an investigation, whether it be for title-8 immigration enforcement or Title 18 criminal enforcement, they'll ask someone their nationality.
But that's not targeted because they're asking all sorts of American citizens, including off-duty law enforcement.
Now, have you directed at any point your agents under the Supreme Court's racial profiling ruling to only stop non-white people and those who look like immigrants to ask for their citizenship papers?
Now, you are aware, of course, and there's well-documented, numerous well-documented instances of people, American citizens, being asked to show and prove their citizenship.
Do you know what other regimes in the 20th century required similar proof of citizenship?
People are simply making valid observations about your tactics, which are un-American and outright fascist.
So I have a simple suggestion.
If you don't want to be called a fascist regime or secret police, then stop acting like one.
But people are simply just observing what they are seeing.
And that's why people are making those comments.
Now, I was a prosecutor for 10 years, prosecuted mob bosses, organized crime, violent criminals.
The actual worst of the worst.
Not a single criminal law enforcement agent that I worked with wore a mask to conceal their identity.
But your department, which is a civil law enforcement agency, is defending the use of masks by your agents because of a so-called rise in threats and assaults against your officer.
Now, you said in your opening testimony that assaults against ICE officers are up by more than 1,400%, which is now even more than the 1,300% that your gaslighting spokesperson, Tricia from Ohio, has recently been citing.
But here's the problem.
There are two separate, very detailed, very thorough investigative reports based on your own data that both conclude that assaults against ICE officers are up about 25%, which is far less, of course, than you assert and far less than you would expect from an agency that has more than doubled its hiring and has an even greater increase in arrests.
Now, why is that a problem, Mr. Lyons?
It's a problem because the explanation that your agents are wearing masks because of fear of assaults or doxing is outright bogus.
You and your untrained, unqualified, unvetted, unidentified agents are intentionally terrorizing our cities and communities all over this country to avoid accountability for their excessive force and their lawless actions.
That is why you're wearing masks, so no one can hold you accountable.
And you know that the FBI is not going to, because notwithstanding all of the investigations all of you say are going on, the Department of Justice and the FBI has stated they are not investigating those two murders.
This is not the America that I know and love.
This is not the America my immigrants came to.
And it's long past time that you rein in your out-of-control agency and start following the law and the Constitution.
It's interesting being in this hearing today, you know, where my Democrat colleagues continue to demonize ICE and Homeland Security.
I think history and context are very important here.
It's not lost on most of the American public that my Democrat colleagues actually caused this entire crisis with their open border policies that they all voted for, letting in close to 15 million illegal aliens.
I also want to go through real quick some numbers of ICE deportations with other presidents who I believe both you, Mr. Scott, and you, Mr. Lyons, have worked for.
Under President Clinton, 12 million illegal aliens were deported and removed from this country, some voluntary, some departures.
Key, no riots.
Under President Bush, 2 million, no riots.
Obama, who is often referred to as the deporter-in-chief, 5 million.
including returns, no riots.
President Trump in his first term, 2 million deported, no riots.
President Biden, 4 million, including expulsions, varying by estimates, no riots.
President Trump again this year, 625,000 with 2 million voluntary leaving through CBP Home App.
Mr. Scott, can you explain why these other presidents that you work for, both Democrat and Republican, have deported far more people than this president and we've seen no riots?
unidentified
I would say it has a lot to do about rhetoric and misleading the American public about what's really going on and how important border security really is to this nation.
Let's talk also about my Democrat colleagues and something they also supported, and that's these sanctuary cities.
I think that's very important, and I don't think a lot of Americans really understand these sanctuary cities.
Mr. Scott, Mr. Lyons, is it true that you would rather send your officers into a jail to get some of these illegal alien criminals?
Is it safer for your agents and also the illegal alien criminal if your officers are able to go into a jail instead of having to go out and find them on the street?
I 100% agree with the director, and just as importantly, it would allow me to put more agents back on the border to prevent people from getting in here in the first place.
Mr. Scott, Mr. Lyons, do you guys remember any riots for some of these victims that were assaulted and victimized by illegal alien criminals like Nate Baker, Lake and Riley, Fletcher Harris, Schuyler, Provenza, Ivory Smith?
I've got a whole list of them.
Do you remember any riots from our Democrats or their constituents when any of these American citizens were victimized by illegal alien criminals?
Because that's the question that I get asked all the time.
Congressman, why do the Democrats care more about illegal alien criminals than they care about these American citizens, many of them who are young, have their entire lives ahead of them, didn't show up to a protest, right, to obstruct federal law enforcement.
They're just going about their daily lives and they get victimized by people who aren't supposed to be here.
Why do you think they don't care about American citizens?
unidentified
I cannot speculate, but when I look at the chaos that it creates and the corrosive nature that it creates, I go beyond the politics of the United States and I look at our nation state adversaries like Iran, Russia, and China and their influence on social media to keep this negative discourse going.
And I think this is a much bigger issue than we're actually admitting that it is in here.
I want to tie this together to something that's very pertinent that's going to happen this week here in Congress where the American people are going to see the bookend of what's going on.
We are going to attempt to pass the Save America Act, okay?
Which requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote.
It imposes photo ID requirements to vote, and it penalizes officials who do not enforce these requirements.
And You won't see most of these folks over here on the other side that are demonizing you guys right now.
You will not see them support it.
So they let millions and millions of illegal aliens into the country.
They set up these sanctuary cities so you can't go enforce these federal laws that are on the books that Congress has passed.
And now they won't vote to stop these illegals from voting in our elections.
My mother, a Guatemalan immigrant and an American, taught me that I have a responsibility to look evil in the eye and to fight it back.
Mr. Lyon, Mr. Scott, Mr. Edelo, you have used your power to perpetrate great evil.
And it's about time you answered this committee for the lawlessness that you've empowered and defended in your testimony.
Mr. Lyons, I want to start with you.
And I want to talk about ICE, because under your leadership, ICE has shot and killed Silverio Videgas Gonzalez and Rene Good, violated nearly 100 court orders in January alone.
You've used banned chokeholds in more than 40 cases, engaged in warrantless arrests despite a consent decree, and you used children as bait to put 3,800 children in detention.
You created traps for people at immigration court who were following the law and doing it the legal way.
And you broke the law by entering to people's homes without a judicial warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
Under your leadership, CBP has attempted to execute Marimar Martinez, shooting her five times and not releasing the footage that you should release so that we can see the evidence.
Murdered Alex Predi, used chemical agents dozens of times in Chicago after a judge ordered you to stop, conducted warrantless surveillance and racial profiling, and acted with total disrespect and disregard for the law while engaging in roving patrols, plate switching, dangerous traffic maneuvers, and observer intimidation.
Again, criminals act with that total disregard for the law, and we continue to see it.
You would both have us talk about respect for your mission and your agents, but your agencies are unaccountable, paramilitary forces, and I have just as much respect for you as I do for the last white men who put on masks to terrorize communities of color.
I have no respect for the inheritors of the Klanhood and the slave patrol.
Those activities were immoral then and criminal, and so are yours.
And that brings me to you, Mr. Edelo and USCIS.
Truly, USCIS is the most disappointing part of this whole panel for me.
Mr. Edelo, let me ask you a question.
Is USCIS's mission to uphold America's promise as a nation of welcome and possibility with fairness, integrity, and respect for all we serve?
As I said, the issues we're debating here are important ones that members feel deeply about.
While vigorous disagreement is part of the legislative process, members are reminded that we must adhere to established standards of decorum and debate.
Witnesses are here today voluntarily, and I will continue to remind members that while oversight is important, aggressively attacking witnesses personally is inappropriate and not in keeping with the best traditions of our committee.
And I now recognize the gentleman from Oklahoma, Mr. Burkeen, for five minutes of questions.
I want to start with the display over my shoulders.
And this is something that is not specific only to Oklahoma.
This is something that every member of this committee, if you will go to the DHS website, every constituent of every member of Congress, if you're curious of really the dark days, I want you to go to the DHS website and I want you to look at those not far from where you live, moms and dads, the arrest of illegal aliens who are preying on minors.
Just because of a really intentional act by Kate Bryan on my staff to go a couple of weeks ago and look just in eastern Oklahoma, on the right side of me here, just in eastern Oklahoma, I represent almost all the entirety of eastern Oklahoma.
These are just the individuals, heinous acts, to include those with children.
And yet I want to read you in a wider, to my left over here, what is happening in the state of Oklahoma.
This person was picked up.
Angel Nick, sexual exploitation of a minor.
Renton Andrew, molestation of a minor.
Chan Truding, child fondling.
Feliosano Garcia, enticement of a minor.
Caetano Lopez, statutory rape.
Rosmo Avila, rape and lewd acts with a minor.
So for everyone who is in short-term memory, it's the way things operate in the court of public opinion.
Everyone is looking and you're forgetting the conversations you were having two and three years ago.
If you had teenage kiddos wanting to go outside of your home and you knew that they were going to go to Dallas, Texas, or some city, and you knew that you had to have a conversation with them with what was happening, the 15 million you knew were in the country illegally that you had no idea what they would be doing, who would they be preying upon?
And moms and dads, don't you feel just a little bit safer if we're going to be gut level honest?
That's the realization of what the generational opportunity this administration has afforded this country.
It's the ability to feel safe over the madness of opening the border for that four-year period that allowed 15 million people you don't know where they came from, you don't know their background, you don't know their history.
And this that is occurring right now is designed to make sure we have law and order in this country.
If you do not have law and order, you don't have prosperity.
So to all those who are second-guessing the reactionary moments through the law enforcement who have to respond in real time, the quarterback whose questions Monday is questioned Monday morning because he's facing the 300-pound defensive lineman, it's easy to do that.
But law enforcement walks out of their home every day and is faced with life or death questions.
And we have to understand they are the ones who are affording us the opportunity for our children to feel safe against these that are in your backyard.
It's not just in the North.
It's not just in Minneapolis.
It's not just in Minnesota.
They're in every state in the country.
Go to the Department of Homeland Security website and Google your area and look at who's being picked up in your backyard.
That's how we recenter this conversation to truth.
I want your children protected.
I am grateful for this president who wants your children protected and an administration.
The same playbook is happening now to create chaos and take your eye off the real goal, which is to secure our communities, to get back to a place of safety.
Mr. Lyons, can you describe, because of not allowing these people to stay in jails, these sanctuary cities are letting them go, thousands released from jail because they will not cooperate with us.
And when ICE tries to execute a detainer, ask them to hold a criminal illegal alien for potential deportation, how is this compared with other non-sanctuary city regions in the country?
Within the jurisdictions that we do have cooperation, we're able to take that individual in a safe, secure environment.
Not only is a safe, secure environment for the officers and agents, but it's also for the individual and the community because we only need one to two officers to make that arrest.
Where now we're historically five or six, we need up to 15.
From what you've seen in terms of protests in Minnesota and elsewhere, do you get the sense these agitators are trying to provoke your agents into reactions?
We've seen multiple times, and unfortunately, we saw like the shooting in Dallas, where agitated groups use apps to identify the location of ICE officers, sometimes prior to even the law enforcement action begins.
And sometimes using those apps put the officers and as well as other federal agencies and local agencies with them in danger because it exposes the fact of where a law enforcement operation is happening.
Mr. Scott, can you describe how the 300,000 children, the UACs, unaccompanied minors that we're trying to find them, how these protests are stopping us from being able to recover those?
Mr. Lyons, your written testimony today does not make one single mention of Renee Nicole Good or Alex Predty.
Not one.
Two American citizens have been murdered at the hands of your agency, and you have deliberately chosen under oath before Congress to ignore these tragedies.
And so today, in my five minutes, I look forward to getting the American people some answers and some accountability that I believe they deserve.
Mr. Lyons, I have some simple yes or no questions.
Do you believe the U.S. Constitution provides due process for everyone in this country?
Well, Mr. Lyons, you have a very strange way of showing it with a federal judge finding that your agency is in violation of 96 orders in one month alone.
And that's just Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This administration and the agencies represented before us have shown a complete and utter disregard for the law and the Constitution.
Renee Nicole Good and Alex Predty, both American citizens, both dead at the hands of federal agents.
Alex Predty was a VA ICU nurse who dedicated his life to healing people, healing veterans.
I worked as an occupational therapist for over a decade.
In that video that we've all seen, it was Alex Predty who was doing what health care workers do, what nurses do.
They help people, help people who are hurting, help people who are in trouble.
In this case, helping a fellow peaceful protester who was shoved to the ground right before your agents shot him 10 times.
And we're now learning that FBI Director Kash Patel stopped the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota from investigating the death of Ms. Good because of fear that an investigation would contradict President Trump's falsehoods that she violently, willfully, and viciously ran down an agent.
Six federal prosecutors resigned rather than participate in a cover-up.
Christy Noam, Stephen Miller, and you, Mr. Lyons, have appointed yourselves judge, jury, and executioner, allowing American citizens to be gunned down in our streets with impunity.
We all know the president is a liar.
He's sold snake oil his entire life, but he can't tell us and the American people that we did not see with our own eyes what we saw in that video.
Two Americans shot dead in cold blood.
The American people aren't stupid like he thinks we are.
The fact that our government murders American citizens, lies about it, and then refuses to investigate or seek justice is beyond abhorrent.
It's un-American.
Mr. Lyons, in America, we shouldn't have secret police.
We shouldn't have masked government agents executing citizens in the streets.
The Constitution does not give your agency the right to hide their faces while they kill Americans.
Will you commit, yes or no, to immediately unmasking every agent conducting immigration enforcement and requiring them to wear standard uniforms with identifiable badges?
So, you're going to look the families of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Preddy in the eye and tell them Secretary Noam should keep her job after their loved ones were killed?
And my heart, prayers, and thoughts go out to anyone who's tragically losing his life, especially a child since I've suffered personal loss in my life.
But I'm not going to comment on the ongoing investigation.
It is a clear violation of the rules of the House to make statements that might be personally offensive to the President or the Vice President of the United States.
I now recognize a gentlelady from South Carolina, Ms. Biggs, for five minutes of questions.
unidentified
Thank you, Chairman Garberino, and thank you to our witnesses.
A big thank you for what you do each and every day to secure our border and to carry out the will of the American people.
You know, this Trump administration and the CBP in ICE, they've done a stellar job of securing our border.
And we can just look at the numbers.
They tell the facts.
Crossings are down from a high of over 300,000 a month under President Biden to around 10,000 a month under President Trump.
However, the lax border policies of the Democrats have flooded our country with tens of millions of illegal immigrants.
This invasion was facilitated by sanctuary cities.
Most cities will hand over criminal aliens with a deportation order to ICE, but sanctuary cities refuse to do so, often releasing them back into the public around our communities, our children, and making it unsafe.
Cities like Minneapolis pick and choose which laws they want to enforce.
And by doing that, they place our federal law enforcement in danger, forcing ICE agents to make arrests out in public, something that could be avoided if sanctuary cities simply cooperated with the federal law.
At the same time, radical leftists have stirred hysteria over routine immigration enforcement, calling immigration officers the secret police and even the Gestavo.
Let me be very clear: this rhetoric has consequences.
Between 2024 and 2025, we saw a more than 16,000 percent increase in threats of assault against immigration officers and over 8,000 percent spike in death threats targeting those who enforce our laws.
In Minnesota alone, there have been over 60 threats and 20 assaults to ICE officers.
Just think about that if you were going to work every day and had to deal with that.
Sanctuary cities choose criminals over citizens.
My bill, the Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Act, would cut off every single federal dollar to any city that helps illegals instead of law enforcement.
Mr. Lyons, my question is to you.
Why should taxpayers fund far-left politicians who put your agents at risk?
Ma'am, unfortunately, what we've seen over and over is just the fact that there's so much rhetoric out there against the work the men and women of ICE have done.
Again, going back in my career, this is my second decade, multiple administrations, and it's never been like this.
And the actual public safety impact that the men and women of ICE do every day is significant, and it should still be true for all 50 states.
unidentified
Thank you.
So I want to take it a little closer to home.
What's happening in my district, the 3rd District of South Carolina, it should alarm every single individual.
These are real crimes committed by individuals illegally in our country, right here in our communities, confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security.
We heard a little bit from my colleagues earlier.
So let me just give you a few of the worst.
Vehicular homicide, child cruelty, and indecent exposure, armed robbery, assaulting a police officer with a weapon, and making terrorist threats.
And I could go on and on.
We're also seeing convictions for drug trafficking, burglary, forgery, repeated illegal re-entry, and more and more.
And this is what I consider chaos.
And it's the direct result of open border policies that put American lives at risk.
But amid all of this, we're seeing true heroes step up.
Our federal immigration officers are on the front lines of securing safety and prosperity for us and for our children.
They've been given a difficult task, but they are up to the job and certainly meeting the demands.
We stand behind our immigration officers and their historic mission to restore the rule of law to the United States.
And right here at home, our local law enforcement is rising to meet the challenge, and I'm very grateful to them.
So just look at Anderson County Sheriff's Department, which you will see in the photo behind me, which recently seized 180 pounds of cocaine.
That's 180 pounds of deadly drugs that will never reach our streets, thanks to the courage and commitment.
So I just want to say thank you, and I'm grateful for the job that you do.
Mr. Lyons, as the senior official lead in ICE enforcement, much of today's scrutiny falls on you, and it should.
You have seen repeatedly, we have seen repeatedly that Republicans, Trump administration, its DHS, and your agency will do absolutely anything to avoid answering for your actions.
When I showed up to inspect Delaney Hall, a private prison that you contract with, ICE tried not to give us an oversight tour.
Then, instead of taking accountability for ICE's attempts to keep us from seeing this facility's conditions to know if people's basic rights were being upheld, this administration is doing all they can to try to put me in prison for 17 years.
When ICE shot and killed Renee Goode, Christy Noam called her a domestic terrorist.
When Alex Predi, you all tried to tell us he was threatening officers with a gun, but all we saw was a phone.
This administration's clear lies fell apart, not because someone had a come to Jesus moment, but because we saw these murders from every angle.
You are only here because public outrage has become so unavoidable.
You are here, Mr. Lyons, because white people are getting shot in the face and chest when the cameras are rolling.
Because now my Republican colleagues care about optics.
But when Keith Porter Jr., a black American citizen, a son, a father, and a man loved by many, was killed by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year's Eve.
There were no hearings.
So this is for him today.
In my district, John Wilson Brutus, a Haitian immigrant, a beloved family man, died within 24 hours of being in ICE custody.
He is just one of more than 30 people who have died in ICE custody last year.
This is for all of them.
Every human being your rogue out-of-control agency has hurt, hunted down, imprisoned, killed, and continue to hold hostage even after they have agreed to be deported.
We know this administration doesn't care about protecting people or sparing lives.
We all see so plainly what you are doing, what you have been doing to black and brown folks, immigrants, people silenced in the shadows, now in broad daylight to people peacefully rejecting your cruel agenda in the streets, which is their right to do.
This is the despicable but predictable result of an agency that laughs at oversight, receives billions to deploy lethal force on our neighborhoods, and seems to believe that they are above the law and should be without accountability.
This administration believes it can act first, explain later, or hell, never explain at all, as we see here today.
You all seem to think you are the highest power who decides which people deserve dignity, protection, due process, and due process.
But you are wrong.
We are here for answers.
We are here for accountability.
And we are here because people are dying.
Let me repeat that.
People are dying.
And you don't seem to care.
So, Mr. Lyons, I've heard my colleagues ask many questions over and over again, and you cannot answer them.
So, let me ask you some questions that you may be able to answer.
Mr. Lyons, do you consider yourself a religious man?
While vigorous disagreement is part of the legislative process, members are reminded that we must adhere to established standards of decorum and debate.
The witnesses are here voluntarily.
And I will continue to remind members that while oversight is important, aggressively attacking those witnesses personally is inappropriate and not in keeping with the traditions of our committee.
And that is exactly why, Mr. Chairman, and to this committee, to my colleagues, and to my colleagues across the aisle, this is exactly why we should not be funding this agency.
I now recognize the gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Evans, for five minutes of questions.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, for this important hearing.
This past year has been historic for national security thanks to the joint work between the agencies present today and our Republican colleagues.
The Big Beautiful bill unlocked billions of dollars to finally secure the border and deliver much-needed support for law enforcement officials who keep us safe every day, slashing things like the scourge of overdose deaths that claimed approximately 400,000 lives under the previous administration.
And this is despite increasing violence against federal officers, which has been inspired by fear-mongering from the Democrats.
As a soldier for 12 years, as a cop for 10 years, and as the only Latino in Colorado's delegation, it's been my long-standing position that with a secure border, we must use all available resources to target the worst of the worst-violent offenders like murderers and rapists, and so-called nonviolent like drug dealers and thieves and child porn producers.
Get the gangsters, not the grandmas.
Director Lyons, is ICE's priority the apprehension and removal of criminal non-citizens rather than the broader population of illegally present individuals?
ICE's continued focus is on the criminal aliens that are in our neighborhoods.
unidentified
Thank you.
Unfortunately, Democrats in my state in Colorado champion soft-on-crime sanctuary policies at the state level and in cities like Denver, which borders my district.
These policies not only impede federal investigations that target cartels, gangbangers, entities like Trendiragua, MS-13, the Sinaloa cartel, but they also endanger our communities by releasing dangerous criminals back into the streets who continue to traffic drugs, steal cars, intimidate families, and recruit children.
In fact, fentanyl overdose rates in Denver are going up in 2025.
It's common sense that when local or state police arrest an individual for a crime, those officers should be able to obtain basic information about the arrestee, and those state and local officers should then be allowed to share information with federal law enforcement to communicate threats, honor detainer requests, and work together to ensure national security and public safety.
So, Director Lyons, can you please explain how ICE works around sanctuary policies to go after the worst of the worst?
And do these sanctuary policies that release criminals back into the community increase or decrease ICE's presence in the community and the temperature of the interactions that ICE has with the community?
Sir, when we deal with sanctuary jurisdictions, we do have to have more law enforcement officers in the street.
Like I said earlier in my testimony, we'd much rather have the chance to take an aggravated felon, repeat DUI offender, into custody at a prison, local jail, or some type of lockup environment where it's safer for my officers and for not only the individual, but that community as well.
And then given the opportunity to take that person into custody before that person can reoffend.
Unfortunately, as a field office director, when I ran the Boston Field Office, we saw too many times that we placed a detainer on a sexual assault individual who just went out later after the detainer was dropped to rape again.
And that is why we need cooperation at all levels, especially local and state.
unidentified
Thank you.
Director Lyons, my district, 40% Hispanic, is full of successful business owners and strong immigrant families.
Unfortunately, my colleagues across the aisle are fanning the flames of fear for their own political gain in my Hispanic communities, scaring people over events that haven't happened in my district.
So I'd like for you for just a brief moment to speak directly to my constituents who are legally present in the U.S., not criminals, but who are fearful of being searched or detained via immigration efforts.
Should they fear ICE?
And what policies does ICE have to prevent the seizure of people with legal status?
So anyone that is here legally or lawfully or a U.S. citizen should not be concerned about being deported or detained.
Unfortunately, many times there are individuals that are with criminal legal aliens.
And sir, as you being a former law enforcement officer, you know, you arrive on a scene, you ID everyone in that case.
If, you know, if we're looking for an individual and someone is here present in the country legally, then we're going to take action.
We're not going to turn a blind eye no more.
But someone that's in the country lawfully should not feel scared to walk down the street driving.
unidentified
Thank you.
Sorry, I got 23 seconds left.
I have one thing that I want to ask.
As a cop, if I had an arrest warrant, and there's a difference between arrest warrants and search warrants, if I had an arrest warrant for an individual and I thought they were in the house or if I was assisting social services with a child removal, I still had to have an arrest warrant to go in the house.
So I have many questions about the memo saying that you don't need a warrant to go into the house.
Will you commit with me at a later date to discuss this?
I would like to, Mr. Lyons, I wanted to just follow up on a statement that you just made, which is that if you're here legally and lawfully, you should not worry.
I think the problem is there are many, many immigrants that are here legally and lawfully that are very worried because they have been snatched off the streets.
They have had their face beat in by ICE agents.
They've been yanked out of their car.
They've been driven around and harassed.
And so that is, I think, at the end of the day, you know, the key nut of the crux here, which is that unfortunately, there is not just this focus on criminals and that people who are here in legal status.
And for example, I have an example of this that I'd like to highlight for you.
And back in October, Maher Tarabishi, a North Texas resident who was allowed to be in this country legally and was under a supervision order to check in on an annual basis since 2008 and did that because he had an adult disabled son.
And so he was here working as an IT consultant and was here in the legal process to take care of his adult legal son.
He went to check into his appointment.
It so happened to be at the time that the Dallas ICE office was closed due to the shooting.
And so he was not able to check in.
When he went back to check in, he was immediately snatched up and detained because he missed his appointment.
That was unavoidable because the office was closed.
He told everyone here was he in legal status.
He had been here since 2008.
And he had an adult disabled son that would likely pass away if he was not released.
He was not released.
His son died.
And then to complicate it, he was not allowed to go and attend the funeral.
And he's still in detention in the Blue Bonnet facility in Texas.
He is not a criminal.
He has no criminal history.
He was here legally.
That is an unacceptable outcome.
And I would like to know if you are willing to review his case and help us get his release, because he should not be in the Blue Bonnet detention facility under these facts.
The other issue that I am really very concerned about is these warrantless entries into people's homes.
It is a problem that is of epic proportion.
There was just recently, yesterday, circulation, a Latino family, ICE just broke into their home without a warrant.
And there was an example where they arrested a man in his pajamas who had every right to be here as a U.S. citizen, but wrongfully snatched out in the freezing cold without a warrant to do so.
The problem that we're having, nobody wants to see attacks on ICE agents, sir.
But this is something I have brought up in this committee time and time again, which is, unfortunately, under your leadership and under Secretary Noam's leadership, this rogue brutality that ICE agents are inflicting upon the people of this country is not being reined in.
It's not being, the agents who are abusing their power are not being held accountable.
I'm sure that there are many, many fine agents who are doing everything they can to exercise their duty lawfully.
But the problem is there are agents who are not.
And the power that they have has gone to their head.
And they use that power unconstitutionally in violation of many people's direct constitutional rights.
And what you're seeing in this country is the fact that your agency, it's not stopping.
And rather than saying, yes, we're going to take steps to keep these people who are abusing their power and who are terrorizing citizens of this country wrongfully, that we're going to hold them accountable, rather than have, well, that's what we want to see.
You're doubling down on that we're only going after criminals, which is in your own comments.
You said that you had 397, I think that's right, 379,000 arrests, but only 8,700 of them were suspected gang members or known suspected terrorists.
That's 2%.
And the problem is we can't terrorize 98% of the people in this country that have been wrongfully detained for 2%.
That's not how the system works.
And that is not okay.
And so we have to do a better job.
And so what procedures are you putting in place to hold agents accountable who clearly have a hot trigger and who clearly abuse their authority because someone has a phone and a whistle?
I now recognize the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. McKenzie, for five minutes of questions.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I appreciate all of our testifiers being here today.
Before I begin, I would like to thank all of our members of law enforcement across the country who work every day to keep our communities safe and also to their families that sacrifice.
We know that it's a challenging job and the environment is made particularly challenging by those who want to oppose our law enforcement from carrying out their lawful duties to keep everybody in our country and our community safe.
As was discussed earlier, there are a couple areas, though, where I think it's appropriate to discuss potential reforms and the way that we can improve our government operations.
DHS guidance indicates that ICE does not arrest or detain U.S. citizens.
On the other hand, social media is full of reports and accusations that this is occurring.
As you know, any accusation that an American citizen's rights are violated is very serious.
Can you clarify, Mr. Lyons, whether this is something that occurs and what are the circumstances where a U.S. citizen might be detained and what steps does ICE take to prevent mistakes?
Well, unfortunately, there's a misnomer that ICE is just a civil enforcement agency, and that's completely wrong.
ICE enforces over 400 criminal statutes as well.
Special agents, especially with the Homeland Security Investigations, they're consistently out there doing human trafficking cases, drug cases, terrorism cases.
We do encounter U.S. citizens, and those who do commit federal crimes are arrested.
But under Title VIII, no U.S. citizen is subject to civil immigration enforcement, and that just doesn't happen.
There are multiple safeguards in that way.
And if a U.S. citizen is detained in the course of an immigration investigation, they're quickly released.
We don't take action on American citizens.
unidentified
If it does occur where a U.S. citizen is detained during the course of another investigation, how is that documented and conveyed to the public about the fact that this did occur and what the circumstances around that were?
So, sir, if you say it's a separate investigation, if it comes to a criminal case, obviously a lot of those are under seal or ongoing investigations.
We won't expose that.
But we're transparent in the case when it comes to any U.S. citizens that's detained in any law enforcement operations that's subsequently arrested.
unidentified
I appreciate that.
I think greater transparency could be beneficial for both the American public and everybody involved here if we clearly articulate what occurred in many of these instances.
I've seen it myself when I'm looking into local issues in our community.
There are oftentimes two sides of the story, and when it is actually conveyed what did occur and why it occurred, there's a greater understanding in our local community of the law enforcement activities that occurred.
The second thing I would like to hit on is jurisdictions, which are sometimes referred to sanctuary cities, not a clear definition as we all know, but local authorities in our community.
We have Northampton County, which does not honor ICE detainer requests for 48 hours and properly convey to ICE and law enforcement about the release of that individual, when that may occur, or even during that detainer period, allow ICE to come onto their property to make an arrest in a secure facility.
Obviously, that leaves our community in a vulnerable position.
In our case, members of Trende Aragua, domestic abusers, have been released onto the street, and ICE had to stake out that location, making the arrests in an unsecure way out in the local community.
From your perspective, how does this dynamic affect public safety and day-to-day operations, and where or how can we change and improve the coordination between ICE and state and local partners?
I know what I would say is just very basic communication would go a long way for public safety.
You know, ICE respects and abides by state and municipality laws, which sometimes you can't hold for any reasons.
But a simple phone call to let us know that that individual is going to be released, or if that individual is released, sharing that biographical data with us will go a long way.
Because the last thing we want is a criminal legal alien to go back into the community.
And more often than not, they prey upon other migrants who are coming here for a better life, yet that they can hide in plain sight because the sanctuary jurisdictions won't just pick up a phone, notify ICE that they're being re-relisted.
unidentified
Well, I appreciate that.
I think we want full cooperation between our local law enforcement and federal agents when they are trying to do their job.
If somebody is on a detainer, they should be allowed onto that property given the ability within that detainer window to make a lawful arrest.
I think it would go a long way to keeping our community safe.
I would like to thank all of you again for being here.
The fact that you are here and present for this kind of testimony, I think, brings greater accountability and increases the ability for us to make reforms in Congress.
Secretary Noam must step down or be impeached by the House.
Period.
The lawlessness, the cruelty, the outright viciousness that she has created has destroyed an agency whose very mission is to protect our country.
Under Noam's leadership, congressional oversight is ignored, detention visits are blocked, due process is ignored, and laws are broken without thought.
This is the first time any of you have testified before our committee.
It took two American citizens being murdered in cold blood to get you to show up.
ICE raids schools, churches, and hospitals.
And let's not forget five-year-old Liam Ramos.
You used him as a bait and then detained him despite his father legally seeking asylum.
Liam is the face of your cruelty.
My district is one of the most ethnically diverse in America.
Our diversity is our strength, but somehow you all seem to believe it's a weakness.
Last fall, the Supreme Court greenlid ICE's ability to yank people off the street based on one thing, such as, quote, the type of work one does, speaking Spanish or speaking with an accent and their apparent race or ethnicity.
Mr. Lyons, I speak Spanish.
If I wasn't wearing my member pin, would me being a Latina or speaking Spanish be enough for ICE agents to harass me or shove me into one of your unmarked cars?
I speak for all of us when I say that I think we know the real answer to this.
These are the realities traumatizing my constituents.
We know that ICE is transferring New Jersey detainees to other states like Texas, ripping them from their families and leaving them unable to challenge their detention.
Mr. ICE, yes or no?
I'm sorry, Mr. Lyons.
Yes or no?
Will you provide us with a list of people ICE has transferred from New Jersey to other states so that I can inform their families where they are?
These are people like my constituent, Lee Kau Cordilla, whose ICE shipped to Texas and continues to detain despite two judicial orders compelling her release.
Over the weekend, Lee Kau was hospitalized for 72 hours while her family had no idea where she was at, nor the status of her condition.
Mr. Lyons, would you be willing to look into this to make sure to release my constituent?
Why have we failed?
Why have you failed to inform her family where she was sent and the status of her condition?
Using the trope, diversity is our strength, as an excuse for lawlessness is unbelievably naive and dangerous.
Nobody in this room would say that diversity is a bad thing.
Lawlessness is a bad thing.
Law and order is much more of our strength than open border policies that welcomes anybody with no vetting.
And when you get down to the nuts and bolts of this issue, we would not be having this hearing if the Democrats attacked illegal immigration with the same vigor that they're attacking law enforcement and the men at this table.
That's a fact.
And it's worth noting that the dishonesty in framing these issues has been unbelievably obvious.
It's been consistent.
And just to, as an anecdote, Mr. Lyons, was Liam used as bait by your agency?
And it has been repeated over and over by the Democrats to frame your agency.
You know, it's worth noting again that the Democrats fought to prevent any vetting of 20 million illegal immigrants into this country over the last four years.
They attack agents rather than those who are assaulting agents today.
They continually misframe what's happening in the ground.
They continually malign the law enforcement officers who are providing legal structure to otherwise lawless landscapes in this country.
And it's worth noting that there have been roughly 2 million people in the country who have been removed in the last year, some voluntarily and then some by forced deportations.
We've heard roughly about 25 cases of alleged abuse.
Some of them, as I just pointed out, are dishonestly framed.
But let's do a favor to the Democratic side.
Let's increase that number by 1,000 times.
25,000 cases of alleged abuse or improper protocols.
We are still operating at roughly 99% proficiency.
Given the scale of the problem, the scale of the solution that you all are operating under, your agents are doing a remarkable job, and I thank you.
But one issue that I want to talk about is this idea of sanctuary policies.
Sanctuary policies is not just a passive relinquishing effort.
And what I mean by that is when I say it's an active, to be specific, there are sanctuary states and cities that will release violent criminals rather than handing them over to pursuing federal law enforcement.
So we've heard the Democrats complain that we're not getting the worst of the worst, but their sanctuary jurisdictions that control roughly 40% of this country's population will actively release sex predators, drug dealers, violent offenders, rather than hand them over to you for deportation.
In this administration, under your watch, ICE has booked nearly 4,000 children.
And 1,000 of them have been held longer than the court-ordered 20-day limit.
Recently, ProPublica obtained handwritten letters and drawings from children detained by ICE.
These are letters from children describing what it feels like and what it does to them when the government locks them up.
This is Ariana.
She's 14 years old, detained for 45 days.
Since I got to this center, all I feel is sadness and mostly depression.
This is Mia, seven years old.
I don't want to be in this place.
I want to go to my school.
This is Scarlett, 17 years old.
I feel very bored and overwhelmed because I am locked up.
This is Gabby, 14 years old.
I feel so much sadness and depression of not being able to leave.
This is Maria, nine years old.
Me and Dilly am not happy.
Please get me out of here.
This is a 12-year-old going to the doctor, and the only thing they tell me is drink more water.
The water here is what makes people sick.
And this one got me, Mr. Lyons, because this is a five-year-old, Luis Annie.
My son's five.
He can't write many words, but he can communicate through drawings like this.
This is a picture of Luis Annie's family.
And you might be able to see that none of the faces are smiling.
Child detention is not required by law.
You know that.
It's not the only option available.
And it's not effective.
We know that community-based alternatives can ensure compliance with proceedings without traumatizing these children.
Yet, you continue to detain and hold children for weeks or months, depriving them of school, stability, leaving them afraid, sick, and confused.
And one of the key reasons for your mass detention, including the detention of Liam and his father, is to pressure people to give up their legal opportunities and pathways to remaining in the United States.
Liam's father was following the rules, following the legal process with a valid claim.
Let me be clear: no child, not Liam Ramos, not Gabby, or any of these children, should be used as pawns in Stephen Miller's sick and twisted great replacement agenda.
Mr. Lyons, in 2025, the British Journal of Psychiatry analyzed all of the data on the impact of immigration detention on children's health.
You could tell me, I'm sure, chapter and verse on the tactics and the equipment that your agents use, military-style equipment across the country in American cities, but you don't know anything about the literature of the impacts of your policies on children.
I now recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Fong, for five minutes of questions.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you all for those who are here testifying.
I want to thank you to you and your teams and your personnel for what you do.
Commissioner Scott, you mentioned in your testimony national security cannot exist without effective border security.
Couldn't agree more.
Everyone on your teams are doing tremendous work under difficult conditions, and I want to thank you all.
I do want to ask and dive in a little deeper as a Californian on the dangers and the consequences of these sanctuary policies.
Director Lyons, I was in the state legislature in 2017 when sanctuary state policies were put in in California.
I opposed SB 54 because at the time, and everything has proven to be true, it was outlined that the impact on ICE and Border Patrol agents was that there would be reduced information and access, agents would be conducting higher risk enforcement operations, and that there would be operational constraints when it comes to limiting cooperation between state and local law enforcement.
I wanted to get your perspective, Director Lyons, and I'll go to you, Commissioner Scott as well.
Can you give specifics on how these sanctuary state policies impact your operations in real time compared to non-sanctuary operations?
Well, sir, for ICE, what I would kind of refer back to what we talked about earlier in my testimony, the fact that when state or local or county agencies don't cooperate with immigration customs enforcement, it forces us to go back out to the community, which we don't want to do.
It also increases the number of assets we have to put towards that arrest.
Like I said earlier, I would much rather send one or two agents or officers to make that arrest in a safe, secure location rather than being out in the street.
It's safer for everyone involved.
unidentified
And before I go to you, Commissioner Scott and answer, I just want to let everyone know in California, and I think it was just reported a couple days ago, there were currently 33,179 illegal aliens in the custody of California jurisdictions with active detainers.
The crimes of these aliens include 399 homicides, 3,313 assaults, 3,171 burglaries, 1,011 robberies, 8,380 dangerous drug offenses, 1,984 weapon offenses, and 1,293 sexual predatory offenses.
These are the real world consequences.
Isn't that right, Commissioner Scott?
When we don't have cooperation, they're released into the community.
Those are exactly the consequences.
And I would just add, California specific, they went above and beyond everybody else.
I mean, in a negative way.
They prohibited state and locals when they saw a crime taking place in front of them from sharing that information with us.
San Diego, for example, right after that law was passed, a Highway Patrol pulled over a U-Haul van and it was a smuggling event, probably a human trafficking event.
A Border Patrol agent just happened to roll up on it and found out, luckily, but that Highway Patrol was disciplined and actually investigated internally, and that sent a chilling effect across the entire state of California that not only can you not actively take, like help us, you couldn't even pass information to us in a normal course of duties.
Border security law enforcement is a team sport.
We need to be working together, not against each other.
Now, can you explain what would have happened, and I think you alluded to it, but what would have happened prior to that if there was local and state coordination with federal law enforcement?
On a daily basis, especially along the southwest border, and let's not forget, and the coast, because we have boats coming in, when a state or local agency would see illegal activity that they could take action on, and then they saw a federal crime, they would contact us.
It happened all the time, and that completely ceased to exist when SB 54 was passed.
And these crimes, of course, as you mentioned before, if you go into specifics, I mean, this is trafficking, both humans and drugs.
This is rape, assaults.
I mean, anything, you're telling me that if any of those crimes occurred, if right now in California, if someone witnessed it, if a state law enforcement or local law enforcement witnessed these crimes being committed, they could not notify you.
They have some felony exceptions, but in most cases, you don't know until you start asking questions if it's just a smuggling event or a human trafficking event.
Until you actually pop the trunk of the vehicle or the back of the car, you don't know what commodity is back there, if it's people or something else.
It put a chilling effect beyond the actual written language on any kind of cooperation in the state.
Well, I want to thank you for that.
Yes, there were some exceptions when it comes to felonies, but as someone who lives in California and was there for the discussion and debate, everything we warned about when it came to sanctuary state policies and the consequences to our community and the consequences to public safety, they have come true.
And that is sad and unfortunate, and we need to undo those policies.
So I want to thank you all for your leadership and testimony and your work.
What we've heard today and seen play out in the streets of this nation for the past year straight out of the Trump administration's fascist playbook.
Cheat, murder, lie about it, practice the art of mass distraction.
The American people are not happy about this.
This administration's officials are sitting before us.
Two people are dead.
I understand that there's an investigation and you cannot go into the details about that.
But there certainly appears to be no shame on the part of these officials who've undoubtedly watched some of your officers conduct themselves in ways that I know you don't condone.
Not as law-abiding people, right?
So I got to give you the benefit of doubt.
And I can't understand why you show no shame, no contrition, no remorse for the human lives that have been lost or for the trampling of the Constitution and the tearing apart of the moral fiber of our nation.
They think, apparently, you think, apparently, you've been coached, apparently, you've been called out of the room with a forced break to be told to be more aggressive, to push back against questions.
The American people saw that happen.
The American people watched as you all looked at each other.
Oh, I didn't ask for a break.
And clearly you were called back to be coached a halftime locker room pep talk.
No person can evade what is right, even though you think that Donald Trump will protect you, and maybe he will for now.
But there will be a time that you have to answer these questions.
And while you have worked on many administrations and this has been asked, you've worked on different administrations.
What's different?
I'll tell you what's different.
The approach.
The approach of how you conduct your search and seizure.
The reason there were so many others and they were not riots was because people were not being trampled.
You had trained officers who knew the art of de-escalation.
They understood the rule of law.
They understood the Constitution.
Yet now we continue to hear lies.
Last year, I took members of Congress on an oversight visit to ICE facility.
We were told certain things that turned out to be patent lies.
They told us things that we witnessed within moments of being there to not be true.
We continue to hear you and some of my colleagues suggest: don't believe your eyes, don't believe your ears, just trust us.
Well, the American people can see.
And this notion that Democrats don't want enforcement, those are talking points that are wrong.
We want rapists and murderers off the street.
We want the bad, the worst of the worst, to be arrested and to be deported if they aren't supposed to be here.
What we don't want is citizens running down the street being chased by ICE agents, people being shot on the streets by rogue officers who are, in fact, American citizens.
What we don't want is to see people like Ms. Good or Mr. Pretty simply doing what we often say: if you see something, say something.
We don't want to see people dying on the streets.
So let me ask you a quick question.
Mr. Lyons, has ICE ever detained an American citizen such as they are not free to leave, whether it is on the sidewalk, the street, or thrown into the back of an ICE vehicle because they looked or sounded a certain way, even though they said they were American citizens?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing and to our witnesses for testifying today.
I want to commend the job the Trump administration and you gentlemen are doing to secure the border, enforce federal immigration laws, and keep dangerous criminals off our streets.
Under President Biden, we saw unprecedented levels of illegal immigration, and many of those who came across the border were connected to transnational criminal organizations and have continued to commit crimes while in the United States.
Despite doing everything they could to secure our borders, our brave CBP officers and Border Patrol agents were undermined at every turn by the Biden-Harris administration.
Yet, under President Trump, CBP, Border Patrol, and ICE have been empowered to do their job and fulfill their mission.
As a representative from Tennessee, I can't help but compare operations in Minneapolis to those in Memphis.
Federal law enforcement operations in Memphis have been successful by every standard and metric, with Memphis Safe Task Force arresting over 6,000 people.
And while immigration enforcement isn't a stated goal of this task force, there is no question that it is also taking place.
The successful operations are due in large part to the outstanding leadership of Governor Lee, who has worked closely with federal partners.
Over the last year, the Trump administration has arrested numerous gang members, pedophiles, and drug traffickers in Memphis with little fanfare or interference from activists.
As a result of this cooperation, murders in Memphis are down by 47 percent since President Trump took office, and overall violent crime is down by 30 percent.
In May of last year, ICE enforcement and removal operations worked with Tennessee Highway Patrol and DHS components to successfully arrest 196 criminal illegal aliens across the greater Nashville area.
I am grateful for the role the members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol played in that operation, and their cooperation has made my district significantly safer.
Since then, over 56 partnering agencies are working together alongside ICE to keep Tennesseans safe.
ICE has carefully highlighted the worst of the worst criminal aliens it has arrested.
Today, I will be entering into the record nearly 120 illegal aliens that have been arrested in Nashville with rap sheets ranging from identity theft to drug smuggling, larceny to arson, and robbery to rape.
Federal agents are executing their mission to defend American citizens and protect our communities.
The major challenge we've seen in Minneapolis and similar cities are directly caused by sanctuary city policies and the refusal of local leaders to enforce the law, preventing local law enforcement from working with ICE.
This leaves ICE and others unsupported, having to manage protesters and domestic friction in addition to their actual mission of enforcing immigration law.
Local law enforcement is crucial to facilitate the mission.
Director Lyons, contrast ICE's experience in Minneapolis with other cities around the country, including Memphis and others, that have agreements to work with ICE.
What can successful partnerships with local law enforcement and other partners look like?
I have to give credit to the U.S. Marshal Service that's leading that operation.
Homeland Security investigation agents are out there every day with the men and women of Tennessee Highway Patrol, Memphis Police Department, and the reduction in crime has been significant.
But if you look across the country, almost in every state, we do have cooperative jurisdictions.
If you look at Texas, Texas, we have outstanding cooperation.
You don't see any riots or anything like that.
You see side by side law enforcement working together as it would be.
If you look at the state of Florida, state of Oklahoma, state of Louisiana, all across the nation, we do have that.
Next, I want to commend the Trump administration for locking down our southern border.
A year ago, it was a highway for illegal aliens and illicit materials.
Today, it is secure and closed.
Commissioner Scott, as Congress and the Trump administration enabled DHS to secure the southern border, how are cartels and other criminal organizations adapting to effective border enforcement?
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They're going to continue to push back.
I think some of it is in these protests, because if we can shut down interior enforcement, that allows them to basically market their goods, if you will, to smuggle people in.
And they need those people to be distractions, because without it, they have to start digging million-dollar tunnels.
Without it, they have to spend a bunch of money on drones, which we're countering.
But without it, they have to go out into the ocean where they stick out like a sore thumb, and we're increasing our radars on the West Coast and increasing our air coverage.
Basically, it affects their bottom line, and it makes it harder and harder for them to bring their poison and anybody that wants to threaten this country that's willing to pay them here.
Mr. Chairman, I move to submit for the record a list of DHS worst of the worst in Tennessee, three quotes from Tennessee 7 sheriffs supporting ICE, and five news articles germane to the hearing in Tennessee.
And would you, as a professional with two degrees in criminal justice, indicate to us that if an officer commits murder, that that officer should be prosecuted?
Secretary Noam accused Mr. Predty of brandishing a firearm while wishing to inflict harm on the officers.
Secretary Noam, same rules that apply to you apply to Secretary Noam.
accused this gentleman, Mr. Petty, of brandishing a firearm.
Secretary Noem doing this when she did without an investigation.
We have to agree that there's not been an investigation.
I don't think I have to ask you that.
Not a complete investigation that we know of, anyway.
She did it right afterwards.
Having done this, she is violating this very basic principle that you have called to our attention today.
And we have to ask ourselves, why would she go so far as to say brandishing when he did not?
The video will clearly show it.
And she said wishing to inflict harm did not inflict any harm.
But the secretary, without an investigation, made these comments.
I'll tell you why.
The secretary was in a rush to cover up, to make sure that she was protecting the officers without regard for the life that was lost.
And in doing this, she was violating not only this basic moral concept, she was breaking the law.
The secretary should be investigated right along with those officers who were out there engaged in this ungodly conduct.
She should be investigated.
And in my opinion, based upon my observation, Secretary should not only be investigated, the secretary should be prosecuted right along with those officers.
This man did not brandish.
This man was not armed.
This man did not attempt to hurt those officers.
They should all be prosecuted.
And you, persons associated with the Trump, say lock her up.
Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to insert two statements for the record, one submitted by the Refugee Council, USA, and the other from the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty.
Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to insert in the record the following articles.
A CBS news article that states that contrary to the administration's claim, only 14% of those arrested by ICE had violent criminal records.
An NPR story about a DHS memo that says ICE can enter people's homes without a judicial warrant, which has alarmed members on both sides of the aisle.
An article from the Marshall Project that alleges that there are thousands of kids in detention, many for longer than the court-prescribed limit.
An article from the Independent about a sick five-year-old lame Ramos asking for his mom in a detention center, which rebuts testimony we heard today that ICE was taking good care of him.
A report from the Center for Election Innovation and Research updated this month that found that non-citizen voting is rare and allegations of the practice are a result of misunderstandings or fabrication.
An article from the AP, which highlights that federal authorities are monitoring and tracking individuals who criticize immigration enforcement operations.
A report from the Brennan Center titled, ICE Wants to Go After the Sinners As Well as Immigrants.
A report from the Guardian that describes the terrible condition in ICE facilities and that ICE denied urgent medical care to a 10-year-old.