ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons refused to resign from the agency during a tense exchange with Rep. Eric Swalwell at Tuesday’s House Homeland Security Committee hearing, during which the agency boss panned the Democrat’s line of questioning.
“Considering your honorable service in the past and the dishonorable acts that those who have worked for you have conducted — and the disgraceful statements that the leadership above you have said — you now have a decision,” Swalwell said, holding up a photo of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was taken into ICE custody when his dad fled from federal arrest in Minnesota last month.
“Will you stand with the kids who you’re supposed to protect or will you side with the killers bringing terror to our streets? Mr. Lyons, will you resign from ICE?”
“No, sir, I won’t,” Lyons responded.
Swalwell, a Democrat who is running for California governor, asked him why not — prompting Lyons to fire back.
“Because, sir, that child that you’re showing right there, the men and women of ICE took care of him when his father abandoned him and ran from law enforcement,” he said.
ICE officials have said the boy was abandoned in a car by his illegal immigrant father as federal officers attempted to arrest the man in Columbia Heights. They said they tried to reunite the boy with other family members at his home — but no one would open the door, so they took him into custody with his father.
A judge later released the father and preschooler pending their asylum cases. The government is now fighting to deport the family and end their asylum case.
Liam’s case was not the only one Swalwell cited — he further pressured Lyons to resign by referencing the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, saying, “It’s a decision to stay on at this point.”
The Alameda congressman also asked whether Lyons would apologize to the families of Good or Pretti, especially after officials in the Trump administration referred to them as domestic terrorists.
Lyons said he would not comment on active investigations and that the president, as an elected official, is entitled to his opinion.
The exchange ended abruptly as Swalwell’s time expired.
Swalwell also listed Lyons’ “decorated” track record before urging him to resign, calling him an “otherwise employable” person.
Swalwell previously co-authored the “ICE OUT Act” with fellow committee member Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-NY, which would strip qualified immunity from federal immigration agents.
