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(WASHINGTON) — A top Democrat said Tuesday’s House committee hearing on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement is the beginning of “accountability” for Department of Homeland Security officials, including Secretary Kristi Noem.

“This hearing is just the start of a reckoning for the Trump administration and its weaponization of DHS against American citizens, and the principle our country stands for. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must be held accountable for this lawlessness immigration operation,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Customs and Border Protection (CPB) Commissioner Rodney Scott, and Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, are appearing in the first of two hearings on oversight of the two agencies.

Scott highlighted the low border crossing numbers and the work of the men and women of CBP.

“We have now implemented effective policies, established unified priorities and objectives across all federal departments, and empowered our workforce to do their jobs by simply enforcing the laws that already exist,” Scott said.

Lyons pushed back on those who label ICE officers “Gestapo or secret police.”

“I know this first hit firsthand because my own family was targeted, but let me send a message to anyone who thinks they can intimidate us: You will fail,” Lyons said. “Despite these perils, our officers continue to execute their mission with unwavering resolve. We are only getting started. ICE remains committed to the fundamental principles that those who illegally enter our country must be held accountable.”

Lyons said that since the beginning of the second Trump administration, ICE has achieved “historic results.”

“ICE has conducted nearly 379,000 arrests, among those arrests were for more than 7,000 suspected gang members and over 1,400 known or suspected terrorists,” he said.

Lyons declined to apologize to the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot by federal agents in Minneapolis last month, when asked by Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., to respond to remarks by administration officials calling them domestic terrorists. He instead offered to meet with their families in private.

“I welcome the opportunity to speak to the family in private. But I’m not going to comment on any active investigation.”

Lyons said he wants to release the body-worn camera footage from Minnesota, now that ICE agents are equipped with them.

“That’s one thing that I’m committed to is full transparency,” Lyons said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday was grilled on Capitol Hill about his past association with Jeffrey Epstein, following revelations that the two men remained in contact years after Lutnick suggested he had distanced himself from the convicted sex offender.

Lutnick strongly denied any wrongdoing, but one Democrat said he had “totally misrepresented” the extent of their relationship “to the Congress, to the American people and to the survivors of his despicable criminal and predatory acts.”

Appearing before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, Lutnick was asked repeatedly about his correspondence with Epstein detailed in files recently released by the Justice Department, and President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary revealed he visited Epstein’s Caribbean island in 2012 with his family and others.

“I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies,” Lutnick testified under questioning by Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

Lutnick told Van Hollen that another couple and their children were with them during the visit.

“We had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour, and we left with all of my children, with my nannies and my wife all together,” he said.

When asked if he saw anything inappropriate during his visit, Lutnick responded, “The only thing I saw with my wife and my children and the other couple and their children was staff who worked for Mr. Epstein on that island.”

Lutnick, who lived next door to Epstein for over a decade, previously suggested he had distanced himself from Epstein back in the mid-2000s prior to Epstein’s conviction in 2008.

“So, I was never in the room with him socially, for business or even philanthropy. If that guy was there, I wasn’t going because he’s gross,” Lutnick said on the “Pod Force One” podcast back in October.

“That’s my story. A one and absolutely done,” Lutnick said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Commerce told ABC News on Monday, “Mr. and Mrs. Lutnick met Jeffrey Epstein in 2005 and had very limited interactions with him over the next 14 years.”

However, the documents released over a week ago showed one email from Epstein’s schedule for May 1, 2011, showing plans for drinks with Lutnick.

Legal documents also showed both Lutnick and Epstein invested in the same business in 2012.

Lutnick testified that he did not have lunch with Epstein in 2011. He also testified that he had no idea about an email from the documents that said Epstein had expressed interest in meeting his nanny.

“I had no idea what that was about. Had nothing to do with me,” he testified.

Van Hollen questioned why Lutnick would make the visit even though Epstein had already been convicted.

“You made a very big point of saying that you sensed that this was a bad person in 2005 and then, of course, in 2008, he was convicted of soliciting prostitution of a minor and yet, you went and had this trip and other interactions,” the senator said.

Lutnick told the committee that he had “nothing to hide, absolutely nothing,” and would speak to the committee about sharing his own records as they relate to Jeffrey Epstein.

“I have done absolutely nothing wrong,” he testified.

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons also criticized Lutnick.

“It troubles me that you took your family to lunch on his island, that you had appointments with him. Please disclose everything. Put this to rest, because this is an issue of grave concern to my constituents,” Coons told Lutnick. “President Trump ran on releasing the Epstein files.”

Lutnick again maintained he had limited interactions with Epstein.

“I did not have anything you could call a relationship, anything you could call an acquaintance,” he told Coons

The White House has defended Lutnick, following the release of the new Epstein files.

“The entire Trump administration, including Secretary Lutnick and the Department of Commerce, remains focused on delivering for the American people,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement Monday.

Several Democratic lawmakers, however, have called on Lutnick to resign because of his appearance in the files.

“It’s now clear that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been lying about his relationship with Epstein. He said he had no interactions with Epstein after 2005, yet we now know they were in business together. Lutnick must resign or be fired,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in an X post Sunday.

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie also called for Lutnick to resign.

“So, he’s got a lot to answer for. But really, he should make life easier on the president, frankly, and just resign,” Massie told CNN Sunday.

Lutnick did not respond to questions from ABC News prior to the hearing about those calls for him to step down.

House Speaker Mike Johnson voiced confidence in Lutnick, telling reporters Tuesday that bipartisan calls for his resignation are “absurd.”

“Howard Lutnick is a great commerce secretary who’s done an extraordinary job for the country, and Thomas Massie should stop playing political games,” he said.

Reporters pressed the speaker on whether he harbors any concerns about Lutnick given his ties to Epstein.

“I don’t know anything about that. I know Howard as an individual, and I trust his word on it,” Johnson said.

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(WASHINGTON) — With just a few days until a Friday deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security, Republican and Democratic lawmakers still appear to be at an impasse on how to move forward with Democrats’ demands for new restrictions on President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats delivered proposed legislative text that reflects their 10-item list of demands to Republican leadership over the weekend. The GOP presented a counterproposal, which Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said they rejected Monday night.

Details of the GOP counteroffer have not been made public, but according to Democrats, it didn’t include “details” or “legislative text.”

“The initial GOP response is both incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct. Democrats await additional detail and text,” Schumer and Jeffries said in the statement. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune would not provide details on the GOP offer when asked by reporters on Tuesday. 

“I think both sides are right now trying — other than it sounds like the Democrats up here are talking about it — are trying to keep the conversations moving forward and not litigating that in public,” Thune said. 

The negotiations are coming as another partial government shutdown looms. If a DHS funding solution is not reached and passed in both chambers by the end of the day Friday, DHS would then shut down.

The TSA, Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Secret Service, CISA and FEMA would be impacted even though lawmakers’ focus is on Immigration and Customs Enforcement reform. ICE operations would not be impacted after it received $75 billion in separate funding from the already-passed “Big Beautiful Bill.”

In a letter last week to Republican leaders, Jeffries and Schumer laid out 10 key demands from Democrats on DHS funding, including calling for judicial warrants before agents can enter private property, a ban on ICE agents wearing face masks, requiring the use of body cameras and new laws for use-of-force standards.

Schumer has called Democrats’ demands “exceedingly reasonable.”

“We are asking ICE to do nothing more than follow the standards that the vast majority of law enforcement agencies already follow. Why should ICE be different, especially when they have such a record of brutality?” Schumer said. 

The funding fight over DHS erupted in the aftermath of the death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, who was killed in a shooting involving federal law enforcement in Minneapolis on Jan. 24. Renee Good, a mother of three, was fatally shot by ICE agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.

Earlier Monday, Thune said on the Senate floor that Democrats engaged in “meaningful talks” with the White House on a path forward for funding DHS over the weekend.

“Democrats have made their demands known in detail. Some of them are positive starting points for further discussions; others are non-staters and unnecessarily tie the hands of law enforcement,” Thune said on the Senate floor.

But Thune said Republicans, in conjunction with the White House, will seek demands of their own.

“I expect that the Trump administration, with the full backing of congressional Republicans, will continue to resist any effort to make it harder for law enforcement to detain and deport dangerous illegal aliens, which is what many of the Democrats demands would do, and I expect that the administration — again with the backing of Republicans here in Congress — will insist on reforms of its own,” Thune said.

As negotiations continue behind the scenes, Thune said on Monday that lawmakers will likely need more time to complete their work. He urged Democrats to support a stopgap funding proposal to keep the lights on at DHS while they continue discussions on ICE reform. 

“We are just a few days away from the deadline that Democrats chose,” Thune said. “And it’s very possible we won’t have our work finished by then. If Democrats are serious about finding a solution there, they may need to find more time to bring these efforts to a productive conclusion.”

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