Trump's immigration chiefs to testify in Congress following protester
deaths
[February 10, 2026]
By REBECCA SANTANA
WASHINGTON (AP) — The heads of the agencies carrying out President
Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda will testify in Congress Tuesday
and face questions over how they are prosecuting immigration enforcement
inside American cities.
Trump's immigration campaign has been heavily scrutinized in recent
weeks, after the shooting deaths in Minneapolis of two protesters at the
hands of Homeland Security officers. The agencies have also faced
criticism for a wave of policies that critics say trample on the rights
of both immigrants facing arrest and Americans protesting the
enforcement actions.
Todd Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, Rodney Scott, who heads U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
and Joseph Edlow, who is the director of U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services, will speak in front of the House Committee on
Homeland Security.
The officials will speak at a time of falling public support for how
their agencies are carrying out Trump's immigration vision but as they
are flush with cash from a spending bill passed last year that has
helped broaden immigration enforcement activities across the country.
The administration says that activists and protesters opposed to its
operations are the ones ratcheting up attacks on their officers, not the
other way around, and that their immigration enforcement operations are
making the country safer by finding and removing people who've committed
crimes or pose a threat to the country.
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.
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A United States Border Patrol agent gestures to a car while
conducting immigration enforcement operations, Thursday, Feb. 5,
2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
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.
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