GOP Chairman Cuts Republican Colleague Off in Tense ICE Hearing Clash

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) cut off Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), a former chairman, in a tense moment during a hearing featuring Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons on Tuesday.

After first denouncing Democrats for their “rhetoric” and the Biden administration’s lax handling of immigration policy, McCaul turned his attention to the Trump administration and its own shifting approach in the wake of the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

“Agent [Greg] Bovino came into the picture, and I would argue, in fairness, that he escalated the situation by the way that was handled. Your officers are not trained to effectuate crowd control. They are trained to move in surgically, go in and remove these dangerous, violent criminals from the United States of America. I’ve called for de-escalation after the two deaths, the two shootings that took place. I believe that these roving patrols should be done at the border rather than in the major cities of the United States,” observed McCaul while addressing Lyons. “So when the president decided to remove Agent Bovino and put in Tom Homan, who I’ve known for years, a consummate professional, law enforcement professional, I commended the president. And what has been done since Mr. Homan came into the job? We now have targeted law enforcement operations. He is returning to the original mission of ICE. He is working with state and locals to do the crowd control. He is getting them to honor the ICE detainers. He is also getting the body cameras put on them. And the roving patrols, in his words to me, should be down at the border, not in major cities. My question to you, Mr. Lyons: Is Mr. Homan now, are his operations in Minneapolis now bringing the situation under control?”

“So we’ve seen a de-escalation in the fact that the protests, while they still go on, have subsided and ICE has been allowed to do their targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation. Just the other night, local authorities arrested 54 protesters at the local level where ICE officers did not have to be engaged in that,” replied Lyons.

“My final question to you, do you believe the model that Mr. Homan is now setting in Minneapolis should be a model for the nation?” followed up McCaul.

“Gentleman’s time has expired,” interjected Garbarino.

The two then began to talk over one another, with McCaul pleading for a “yes or no” answer “on the record,” and Garbarino refusing to allow Lyons to answer.

“Gentleman’s time has expired,” repeated Garbarino.

Watch above via CNN.

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