Feb 12 (Reuters) – The top Republican and Democrat on a U.S. Senate committee played video showing the lead-up to the shooting of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti to Trump immigration officials at a hearing on Thursday, sharply questioning whether the use of force was appropriate.
The committee’s Republican chairman, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, said the video clearly showed Pretti was backing away when a border officer doused him with pepper spray at close range during the January encounter, which sparked nationwide scrutiny of Trump administration immigration tactics.
“He is retreating at every moment. He’s trying to get away, and he’s being sprayed in the face,” Paul said, adding that the officer’s use of pepper spray was “escalatory.”
PRETTI ‘FIGHTING BACK’: CBP COMMISSIONER
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, one of the Trump officials testifying, said a full investigation would be needed to determine whether the use of force was appropriate.
“What I’m seeing is a subject that’s also not compliant. He’s not following any guidance. He’s fighting back nonstop,” Scott said.
In a later exchange, Scott and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons agreed that spraying someone who is backing away was not proper procedure.
The hearing marked the second time this week that Scott, Lyons and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joe Edlow faced scrutiny from a congressional committee over Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
The Trump officials defended their agencies’ actions and said the fatal shootings of Pretti and Renee Good would need to be investigated, a departure from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump officials who quickly cast Good and Pretti as “domestic terrorists.”
Paul said the rush to judgment hurt the administration’s credibility.
“People aren’t believing there’s going to be an honest investigation,” he said.
Earlier in the day, White House border czar Tom Homan said the administration would draw down its presence in Minnesota after a surge that has led to mounting criticism. Public support for Trump’s immigration agenda fell to the lowest point in his presidency in January, according to Reuters/Ipsos polls.
Paul, a libertarian from Kentucky, criticized immigration officers drawing weapons in situations where there was no clear threat.
“I don’t think they’re living up to the same standard of the police,” Paul said. “I think the police, frankly, are better trained.”
TENSE EXCHANGES OVER IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT
Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan questioned Lyons about whether ICE officers had the authority to be deployed to U.S. polling stations, referencing a recent Trump call to “nationalize” elections.
“There’s no reason for us to deploy to a polling facility,” Lyons said.
Earlier on Thursday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee heard from Minnesota officials, including Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Ellison called on Congress to require the FBI to conduct a full investigation into the Good and Pretti killings and for ICE to “provide a full, transparent accounting of everyone stopped, detained, arrested and deported from Minnesota.”
Harry Niska, the top Republican in the Minnesota State House of Representatives, criticized Ellison for issuing legal opinions that made it harder for state authorities to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
“Arresting a suspect in the secure environment of a jail is safe and efficient,” Niska said. “Forcing that arrest to happen in a home or a workplace … drastically increases the risk to officers in the public.”
Paul Schnell, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, said there has been “wide-scale cooperation” with ICE but that the Trump administration surge had strained that collaboration.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke; Editing by Rod Nickel)
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