Senior leaders from the three principal U.S. immigration agencies will appear before a congressional committee on Tuesday in the first hearing since two U.S. citizens were killed during a federal operation in Minneapolis. The session comes as opposition grows to the administration’s intensified enforcement actions in the city.
The officials scheduled to testify are Todd Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Rodney Scott, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); and Joe Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). They are the highest-ranking leaders at agencies that together oversee immigration enforcement and legal immigration processes.
Democrats on the House committee are preparing to subject the trio to close questioning after the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. The operation in January saw an escalation in enforcement activity that, according to public accounts, brought masked immigration officers into confrontations with residents who opposed broad sweeps. Those enforcement actions reportedly picked up many non-criminal individuals, including families and children.
Following the fatalities, senior administration officials initially described both Good and Pretti as "domestic terrorists" and asserted they were the aggressors in the encounters with federal officers. Subsequent video evidence, however, undermined those characterizations, creating further controversy around the operation and its public messaging.
As scrutiny intensified, the administration reassigned operational control in Minnesota. Tom Homan, the border czar, replaced the Border Patrol roving commander Gregory Bovino for the effort and stated that agents would move toward a more targeted enforcement approach.
Democratic members of Congress have demanded changes to agency practices in response to events in Minneapolis. Their requests include removing masks during operations, requiring officers to wear body cameras and refocusing enforcement priorities on criminal offenders rather than broad sweeps that can ensnare non-criminal immigrants and U.S. citizens.
Reports indicate that, despite internal ICE guidance advising officers to cease engaging with protesters, confrontations have continued. Some encounters have led to arrests and charges against U.S. citizens who followed officers in their vehicles. The hearing will be held before the Republican-controlled House Homeland Security Committee, where oversight and partisan dynamics may shape the course of questioning and potential policy outcomes.
Contextual note - The appearance of the three agency heads represents a rare coordinated congressional review of immigration leadership following a high-profile and deadly enforcement action. The testimony is likely to probe operational decisions, oversight mechanisms and whether recent practices align with stated agency guidance and congressional expectations.