In the last year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted 37 investigations into officers' use of force, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said during congressional testimony on Thursday.
Of those, 18 are closed and 19 are still pending or referred for further investigation, he said. Lyons did not say whether any investigations have resulted in terminations.
The investigations affect a tiny fraction of an ICE workforce. DHS has said they have been successful in nearly doubling their ranks in recent months to 22,000 people, not all of whom conduct arrests.
Lyons' comments come after immigration officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis last month, intensifying questions about immigration officers' tactics, training and use of force. It also raised further questions about the integrity of the department's internal oversight mechanisms.
Lyons shared the details about investigations during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Thursday featuring top immigration enforcement officials. GOP Sen. Rand Paul, Ky., called the hearing after federal immigration officers in Minneapolis killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen.
The Department of Homeland Security rarely shares information about its internal misconduct investigations, though several have come to light in recent months.
For example, ICE briefly put on administrative leave Victor Mojica in New York, who roughly pushed a woman in an immigration court hallway. Also put on administrative leave were Jonathan Ross, the ICE officer who shot U.S. citizen Renee Macklin Good, two Border Patrol agents involved in Pretti's shooting, and Border Patrol agent Charles Exum, who shot at U.S. citizen Mariamar Martinez.
Lyons' comments on investigations only concerned ICE; it is unclear how many Customs and Border Protection officers are under review for misconduct; lawmakers at the hearing didn't ask the commissioner of CBP, Rodney Scott, about his agency's investigations.
Questions about training
Some of the agents involved in the recent incidents had been with their agencies for several years. But critics of surging enforcement have also raised concerns about the training provided for 12,000 new ICE employees.
In response to questions on the training timeline from Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., on Thursday, Lyons said the curriculum at the federal law enforcement training center in Georgia was truncated from 75 days to 42 days for new recruits – and that there was instead a longer time for "on-the-job training. He said that after the academy, agents get "real-world training like when [a] local police officer comes out of the academy."
Lyons said it was possible that a new recruit could go from having never held a weapon to being on the ground in a state like Minnesota after those 42 days of training.
He had previously said that those who are former law enforcement officers and special agents attended a shorter training module at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia, focused on just topics like the Immigration and Nationality Act. It's unclear how long that would be.
"I am glad you're doing investigations, to be clear — but the fact that there are consistent mishandling of weapons, use of escalation of force that is above what is necessary, and there have not been any command decisions about how to fix — this is concerning," Gallego said in response to Lyons' comments.
Questions about internal oversight
Critics of the administration, and former ICE personnel, have told NPR they worry the lack of transparency about DHS's disciplinary practices is further eroding trust in federal law enforcement.
The Department of Homeland Security has cut jobs in the oversight divisions focused on civil rights, as part of a broader reduction in force across the federal government. That includes jobs in the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which could be involved in any investigation into fatal incidents.
The administration has been quick to defend officers after violent incidents become public.
Initially, for example, Trump administration officials labeled Good and Pretti as "domestic terrorists," after they were shot by immigration officers.
A preliminary government review later contradicted the Trump administration's initial narrative about Pretti's shooting, as did multiple bystander videos and witness testimony.
DHS officials testifying in Congress notably declined to back up those early assertions from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, among others.
"Any comments made publicly, privately, text, Instagram, is going to put a bias on the investigation," Lyons said on Thursday.
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