Top Trump DHS officials defend enforcement during fiery hearing: 'We are only getting started'

Appearing before Congress for the first time since federal agents killed two Americans in Minnesota, top officials overseeing President Donald Trump's deportation campaigns on Tuesday agreed to release the "full and unabridged" findings into the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Macklin Good — and they offered a defiant warning.

“Despite these perils, our officers continue to execute their mission with unwavering resolve,” said acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. “And we are only getting started."

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew R. Garbarino, R-New York, began a lengthy committee hearing by calling state and local authorities' refusal to "protect" federal law enforcement officers and the deaths of Good and Pretti "unacceptable and preventable," while also voicing support for a "complete and impartial investigation."

"We must take the temperature down and look at the record of enforcement actions through rational eyes," Garbarino said.

There was also a critique of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, who led operations in Chicago and in Minneapolis and was demoted after Pretti's killing. U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told the panel — which also included Rodney Scott, head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — that Bovino "escalated the situation" in Minneapolis. He also praised the efforts of border czar Tom Homan, who was sent to Minneapolis to de-escalate the situation.

McCaul also told the officials their officers "are not trained to effectively crowd control" and suggested "roving patrols should be done at the border rather than the major cities of the United States."

The hearing included references to local shootings, including the death of Silverio Villegas González, who was shot at “close range” by a federal immigration agent in Franklin Park as he allegedly tried to flee a traffic stop in September, and Marimar Martinez, who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in Chicago.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., played a clip of Martinez detailing her wounds after being shot by federal agents.

"What happened to Ms. Martinez, Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti is a scourge on this country and shameful chapter in our nation's history," Thompson said.

Thompson also asked the three if they were involved in "any planning on guarding precincts" — after Trump suggested Republicans should "nationalize" voting. Both Lyons and Scott replied no.

Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Illinois, told the three officials that they have perpetrated "great evil" and must answer for their "lawlessness." Then she detailed the shooting of Villegas González, Pretti and Good, and called Martinez's shooting an attempted execution.

"DHS cannot be reformed," Ramirez said. "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. And let me tell you, fascism always requires a public enemy."

Lyons blamed elected officials and protesters for escalating tensions that he said put federal agents in harm's way. He repeatedly declined to publicly comment on the deaths of Pretti and Good.

Scott credited Trump for investing record amounts of money into recruiting, hiring and retaining immigration officers — and he called attacks on federal agents "coordinated and well-funded."

"This is not peaceful protest," Scott said. "No law enforcement officers should be put at personal risk simply for doing the job that we have asked them to do."

The officials also provided some insight into their enforcement, including that there are "approximately" 3,000 ICE agents wearing body cameras, out of about 13,000 in the field. And 10,000 of 20,000 Border Patrol agents are now wearing body cameras.

Lyons also complained about Democrats referring to ICE as the Gestapo.

"I have a simple suggestion," U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, D-New York, told him. "If you don't want to be called a fascist regime or secret police, then stop acting like one."