ICE chief skips LI Rep. Andrew Garbarino's hearing, despite invitation

WASHINGTON — Long Island Rep. Andrew Garbarino and other Republicans on a key House committee he leads are getting slammed by Democrats for "not being up to the task" of meaningful congressional oversight of President Donald Trump’s immigration-enforcement surges in Minnesota and elsewhere.

A boiling-over point for Democrats came Wednesday with the failure of Todd Lyons, the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to show up for his requested testimony at a hearing before the Garbarino-chaired House Committee on Homeland Security.

Garbarino (R-Bayport) acknowledged in a statement that he had, as the committee’s chairman, officially invited Lyons to testify, in a Saturday letter reported earlier Wednesday by Newsday. He also said Lyons would appear "in the coming weeks" but did not specify when.

But Garbarino's letter added more fuel to the Democrats’ anger in underscoring that he did not, initially, ask Lyons to testify at the hearing focused on "Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security." Rather, he said he issued the invitation to Lyons "at the request of the minority."

That flabbergasted many of the Democrats on the committee, who say this is a key moment for congressional oversight of ICE — given a federal immigration agent’s fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis and the tensions that have followed.

Several wondered aloud why Garbarino and his GOP colleagues were instead settling for testimony Wednesday from officials of the Transportation Security Administration and two other Homeland directorates tied to cybersecurity and science and technology.

"An absolute disgrace," is how the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) described Lyons’ no-show at the start of the Wednesday hearing. Not only did he say the hearing failed to meet the moment — Thompson decided to lead a moment of silence for Good during it.

"In the face of the administration’s appalling escalation of violence," complained Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), "the majority has set up this hearing with a random assortment of DHS leaders who are not the ones we really need to hear from at this moment."

McIver said Lyons must be brought in for testimony before the committee as soon as possible. "That would be just the start of providing the accountability and change our constitutes are demanding of us right now."

Rep. Timothy Kennedy (D-Buffalo), said, "This committee needs answers from ICE. The people of this country need answers about what is happening across this nation."

Kennedy added of ICE officials: "They should be here testifying under oath, answering questions all of us have."

Among those questions, Kennedy said, is the extent to which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other department officials are reassigning workers away from other important posts to carry out roles in President Donald Trump’s stepped-up deportation efforts. He said his concerns include shifts from Western New York and its international bridges.

Through the hearing, Republicans on the committee said relatively little about the absence of any ICE officials.

But at one testy point, moments before he left the hearing, Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) interrupted McIver and reminded her that she is herself facing charges for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers outside an ICE detention facility in her state in May.

"Like I told Secretary Noem and said in this room last month, the greatest threat to the homeland right now is the Department of Homeland Security under her control," McIver said. "Unfortunately, the Republicans, like Mr. Crane, in control of Congress, are not up to the task in the face of the administration’s appalling escalation of violence."