Senate panel hears from top immigration officials, state leaders on Minnesota surge

Paul and Peters began the second panel by showing video of the lead-up to the shooting of Alex Pretti, who was filming federal agents before he was tackled to the ground and shot and killed.

“The grant to use lethal force is so ominous … that society only allows such force to be used on rare occasions. Today we explore the rules of engagement — the rules for the proper use of force, and the rules for the use of force that are proportional to the threat,” Paul said before launching into questions, adding that his goal is to “restore public trust.”

“Is yelling at ICE officers or Border Patrol, is that a form of domestic assault on the officers?” Paul asked the witnesses, playing a video breakdown of the initial confrontation.

“No, sir,” the CBP and ICE chiefs said. Paul then established that filming agents is not a crime. 

The video then showed agents approaching two women and shoving one to the ground.

“Is it an appropriate use of force to shove the woman to the ground here, Mr. Scott?” Paul asked. The CBP chief said he could not answer it without more information about what led to the confrontation and said an investigation is ongoing. But he conceded that it would not be appropriate to shove a woman to the ground only for yelling at officers. 

Paul said it was important to establish whether the agents were following DHS policy in how they acted. 

“There were people who said, and they were part of the government, I don’t think they were any of you, but part of DHS and part of the administration, said, ‘Yes, the officers were using deescalation tactics.’ Nobody believes that, alright? I’m just going to stipulate that,” Paul said. “Nobody in America believes that shoving that woman’s head and face in the snow was deescalation.”