WASHINGTON—Senate Homeland Security Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) joined his House counterpart in asking the heads of key agencies in the Homeland Security Department to testify before Congress in the wake of widespread federal immigration enforcement operations.
Paul and Garbarino have called for testimony from ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, Border Patrol Commissioner Rodney Scott, and USCIS Director Joseph Edlow in the name of oversight.
“I take my oversight duties for the department seriously, and Congress has an important responsibility to ensure the safety of law enforcement and the people they serve and protect,” Garbarino said in a statement on the letters.
The Republican push for oversight comes as Senate Democrats prepare to contest the passage of a final suite of appropriations bills for fiscal year 2026 over its DHS funding.
The lawmakers’ letters also follow the deaths of Renee Good, on Jan. 7, and Alex Pretti, on Jan. 24, during contested interactions with federal agents on the streets of Minneapolis.
Garbarino’s letters laid out various dates in February and March when the DHS leaders might be able to testify.
Paul’s letters called on the three agency heads to testify at a Feb. 12 hearing and requested a response by Jan. 28.
“The Department of Homeland Security has been provided an exceptional amount of funding to secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws. Congress has an obligation to conduct oversight of those tax dollars and ensure the funding is used to accomplish the mission, provide proper support for our law enforcement, and, most importantly, protect the American people,” Paul wrote in his correspondence.
The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, key 2025 legislation to enact Trump’s second-term agenda, allocated $75 billion in supplemental funding for ICE over a four-year period, effectively tripling the financial resources it can command during that window.
It also provided $65 billion to CBP.
