Top officials with the Department of Homeland Security spent the week testifying before Congress, amid criticism about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis.
Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego questioned officials during a hearing Thursday morning at the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
Gallego questioned Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott on how officers from both agencies are trained.
“Mr. Scott, have you ever been trained to use, maybe a pistol, to pistol whip somebody when you’re trying to detain them?” Gallego said.
Scott and Lyons told Gallego a pistol whip was not part of their typical training because it could cause the gun to go off.
“And the fact that they’re doing that, tells me there is a command structure element, because we consistently see it, consistently see it all the time, on video,” Gallego continued.
Gallego also asked Lyons why the agent who killed Renee Good in the city last month was holding a cellphone to record.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be holding a camera, trying to be an influencer, and holding a weapon at the same time,” he said. “As law enforcement, as military, we would never do that. Because you know that you cannot handle a weapon, assess the situation, and determine whether to escalate or de-escalate.”
Lyons said agents have used cellphones to record incidents if body cameras are not available. In an earlier hearing, Lyons said about 3,000 of a total 13,000 ICE agents currently have body cameras.
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