Photos of Alex Pretti outside his home in Minneapolis, January 26, 2026. Pretti, an ICU nurse, died on January 25 after being shot multiple times during a brief altercation with Border Patrol agents in south Minneapolis. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – The head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement refused during a U.S. House hearing Tuesday to apologize to the families of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, victims of the fatal shootings by immigration officers in Minneapolis last month.
Top Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have said the two Minneapolis residents were involved in “domestic terrorism.” Good was a poet and mother of three, and Pretti was an intensive care nurse.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons demurred when asked by California Democrat Eric Swalwell whether he would apologize for the characterization.
“I am not going to speak to any ongoing investigation,” Lyons said.
Lawmakers on the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee attacked Lyons, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow during Tuesday’s hearing following the deadly shootings at Good on Jan. 7 and Pretti on Jan. 24. The deportation campaign in Minneapolis began more than two months ago.
After the shootings, Democrats pushed for policy changes to the appropriations bill that funds the agency for fiscal year 2026, trying to reach bipartisan agreement on the issue.
If lawmakers don’t reach an agreement by Friday, funding for much of DHS will arid up. Funding for immigration enforcement will remain in place because of last year’s Republican tax cut and spending laws.
Scott called thousands of protesters and legal observers in Minnesota “paid agitators.” There is no evidence for this.
Noem, whom Democrats are pushing to impeach, was not at the hearing.
The committee chairman, Republican Andrew Garbarino of New York, acknowledged that the country was at a “turning point” and called the deaths of Good and Pretti “unacceptable and preventable.”
Additionally, he has largely defended federal immigration officials and the Trump administration’s enforcement tactics.
The committee’s top Democrat, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said the Trump administration is using DHS as a weapon against Americans.
Body cameras, masks and roving patrols
Democrats grilled Scott and Lyons on several policy proposals Democrats are pushing for in the DHS appropriations bill.
Democratic proposals include requiring body cameras for immigration agents and requiring those officers to provide identification and not wear masks.
Thompson asked Lyons how many body cameras ICE officers have. Earlier this month, Noem announced that DHS would send body cameras to all ICE officers across the country.
Lyons said about 3,000 ICE officers currently have body cameras, with another 6,000 on the way.
Of the 20,000 Border Patrol agents, about 10,000 Border Patrol agents have body cameras, Scott said.
Democratic Rep. Tim Kennedy of New York asked Lyons if she would commit to instructing ICE agents to stop wearing face coverings and masks during enforcement actions.
“No,” Lyons said.
Kennedy then asked Lyons whether he thought Noem should resign given the fatal shootings of Good and Pretti.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” Lyons said.
GOP Rep. Michael McCaul, a former committee chairman who is retiring next year, said some roving patrols should be kept on the southern border rather than in residential areas.
“I called for de-escalation after the two deaths and two shootings that occurred,” McCaul said. “I believe these roving patrols should take place at the border, not in major U.S. cities.”
Democrats are also calling for an end to patrols in the interior of the United States
McCaul added that federal immigration agents “are not trained in crowd control.”
“They are trained in the surgical relocation, entry and removal of these dangerous, violent criminals from the United States of America,” he said.
Judgment Day, the Klan called
There were several heated exchanges between Democrats and administration officials during the hearing.
New Jersey Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver, who faces federal charges after a clash with immigration officials at a Newark detention center where she was trying to make an unannounced surveillance visit, asked Lyons if he considered himself a religious person.
Lyons said he did, and McIver asked him how he thought “judgment day would be in your favor since you have so much blood on your hands.”
“I’m not going to dwell on that question,” Lyons said.
She asked Lyons if he thought he would “go to hell.”
Garbarino quickly interrupted the line of questioning.
Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois criticized the officials before her and called for abolishing ICE.
“I have as much respect for you as I have for the last white men who put on masks to terrorize communities of color. I have no respect for the heirs of the Klan and the Slave Patrol,” she said. “These actions were criminal and so are yours.”
