Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons refused to resign under pressure from Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., who offered him the ultimatum to do so, or “side with the killers.”
The heated exchange during Tuesday’s House Homeland Security Committee hearing isn’t the first time Swalwell has confronted ICE over its mass deportation operations. He previously co-authored the “ICE OUT Act” with fellow committee member Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-N.Y., which would strip qualified immunity from federal immigration agents.
Near the close of his questioning, Swalwell told Lyons that continuing to lead ICE is a “choice,” and highlighted his preceding decorated military and law enforcement career.
“You are what I would call ‘otherwise employable’. I think most people would agree this is not the only job that you can get. But since you’ve been on this job, women have been dragged by their hair through streets. A six-year-old child battling stage-four cancer has been deported. And it turns out he was a US citizen,” Swalwell claimed.
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The Alameda lawmaker, who is also running for governor, said people are fleeing ICE “through the fields where they work” and that “disgraceful” statements from DHS brass should convince Lyons to find a new job.
“Will you stand with the kids who you’re supposed to protect or will you side with the killers bringing terror to our streets? Mr. Lyons, will you resign from ICE?” Swalwell asked, as a poster of a child appeared behind him.
Lyons replied, “No sir, I won’t,” and then took issue with the poster Swalwell’s staff had produced.
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“That child that you’re showing right there, the men and women of vice took care of him when his father abandoned him and ran from law enforcement,” Lyons said, referencing the case of Adrian A.C. Arias, an Ecuadorian national targeted by ICE.
Arias “abandoned” his five-year-old child to flee authorities, leading Democrats and some in the press to claim that DHS had targeted the child, who went into their custody.
“For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias,” a DHS official said of the situation. “ICE did not target a child.”
Swalwell also pressed Lyons on comments made at a Border Security Expo suggesting immigration enforcement and deportation operations be as efficient as Amazon Prime delivery.
“Mr. Lyons how many times has Amazon Prime shot a mom three times in the face?” Swalwell asked — appearing to reference the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.
“None,” Lyons said.
“It’s the square root of zero, that’s right,” Swalwell shot back, before Lyons countered that his Amazon comment had come in the context of remarks made on improving the technology around DHS’s work, including efficiency and artificial intelligence areas.
“I did say at the end of it, but we deal with human beings, so we can’t be like them. That’s the key part that you’re leaving out,” Lyons said.
At the end of Swalwell’s remarks, Chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., ceded the floor to Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., who offered a friendlier exchange with Lyons.
