The House Homeland Security Committee has requested testimony from the leaders of key agencies behind the Trump administration‘s sweeping immigration raids just hours after another officer-involved shooting occurred in Minneapolis on Saturday.
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) summoned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Todd Lyons, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow to testify in a committee hearing, the date of which has not yet been determined.
A committee press release said the purpose of the hearing will be to “conduct oversight of each agency and ensure they are fulfilling their duty to protect the homeland.”
“I take my oversight duties for the department seriously, and Congress has an important responsibility to ensure the safety of law enforcement and the people they serve and protect,” Garbarino said in a statement. “I am committed to ensuring ICE, CBP, and USCIS are effectively using the historic resources provided through reconciliation to strengthen public safety, and I look forward to each of these agencies testifying before the Committee.”
While Garbarino said he was only “formally memorializing” a previous Jan. 15 invitation to these officials, the timing is notable.
Earlier Saturday, 37-year-old Alex Pretti was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent during an immigration operation. The Department of the Homeland Security said while agents were conducting a “targeted” operation “against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault,” they were approached by Pretti, who was armed with a “9 mm semi-automatic handgun.”
They said federal agents attempted to disarm Pretti, but he “violently resisted.” One agent, “fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers,” then fired “defensive shots” at Pretti, who died at the scene.
Footage taken by bystanders is showing a much different account, however. While Pretti was armed, he is never seen holding his gun, only his cell phone as he briefly intervenes when an agent pushes a woman over on the street.
The agent then pepper-sprays Pretti, who does not resist and instead holds up his left hand. A scrum then ensues as multiple agents attempt to subdue Pretti, with one agent appearing to disarm him just before he is fatally shot.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE FATAL SHOOTING INVOLVING BORDER PATROL IN MINNESOTA
The incident has only inflamed tensions between the state of Minnesota and the Trump administration, and will now consume Congress’s business over the next week.
After the shooting, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pledged to vote against passing the appropriations legislation if the current DHS funding bill is included, all but teeing up a similar shutdown fight as late last year that led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
