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WASHINGTON (AP) — Top officials responsible for implementing President Donald Trump’s extensive deportation policies are scheduled to testify before Congress on Tuesday. They will address inquiries regarding their methods of enforcing immigration laws within U.S. cities.
Recent scrutiny has intensified over Trump’s immigration measures, particularly following the fatal shootings of two demonstrators in Minneapolis by Homeland Security officers. The agencies have also been criticized for implementing policies perceived by opponents as infringing on the rights of both immigrants facing detention and American citizens protesting these enforcement measures.
The acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons, along with Rodney Scott, head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, are set to appear before the House Committee on Homeland Security.
This testimony comes amid waning public support for the administration’s execution of Trump’s immigration strategy, despite the agencies receiving ample funding from a budget passed last year, which has expanded immigration enforcement activities nationwide.
The administration contends that it is activists and demonstrators, not their officers, who are escalating confrontations. They argue that their immigration enforcement efforts enhance national safety by identifying and deporting individuals who have committed crimes or pose potential threats.
Under Lyons’ leadership, ICE has undergone a massive hiring boom funded by Congress last summer and immigration officers have deployed in beefed-up enforcement operations in cities across the country designed to increase arrests and deportations. The appearance in Congress comes as lawmakers are locked in a battle over whether DHS should be funded without restraints placed over its officers’ conduct.
Lyons is likely to face questioning over a memo he signed last year telling ICE officers that they didn’t 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.
During Scott’s tenure, his agency has taken on a significant role in arresting and removing illegal immigrants from inside the country. That increased activity has become a flashpoint for controversy and marks a break from the agency’s traditional job of protecting borders and controlling who and what enters the country.
Under the leadership of commander Gregory Bovino, a group of Border Patrol agents hopscotched around the country to operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and New Orleans where they were often accused of indiscriminately questioning and arresting people they suspected were in the country illegally. Bovino says his targets are legitimate and identified through intelligence and says that if his officers use force to make an arrest, it’s because it’s warranted.
A Border Patrol agent and Customs and Border Protection officer both opened fire during the shooting death of Alex Pretti, one of two protesters killed in Minneapolis in January. The other protester, Renee Good, was shot and killed by an ICE officer.
After the Pretti shooting, Bovino was reassigned and Trump sent his border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to assume control.
USCIS has also faced criticism for steps it has taken including subjecting refugees already admitted to the U.S. to another round of vetting and pausing decisions on all asylum cases.