Colorado Congressman Gabe Evans to grill top immigration officials at congressional hearing

Immigration enforcement will take center stage next week in D.C. Lawmakers are scheduled to hold two high profile hearings as Congress faces a looming deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

Democrats want changes at Immigration and Customs Enforcement after federal agents from that department and Customs and Border Protection killed two U.S. citizens last month in Minnesota. Congress has two weeks to find common ground on a long-term funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Congressional Democrats have issued a list of reforms they want to see in a compromise to avert a lapse in funding. Those demands include mandatory body cameras for immigration officers, a ban on face coverings and tightened restrictions around warrants.

If an agreement isn't reached in time, ICE and CBP will continue operating because it received $75 billion in funding from the Big Beautiful Bill last year. But other units under DHS -- including the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Transportation Security Administration -- would shut down.

As tension builds, Republicans have summoned top immigration officials -- including Todd Lyons, a senior official for ICE, and CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott -- to Capitol Hill. The House Committee on Homeland Security is scheduled to hold a hearing next Tuesday and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security will meet next Thursday, one day before funding runs out for the Department of Homeland Security.

Rep. Gabe Evans, a Republican who represents Colorado's 8th Congressional District, sits on the House committee. He says he plans to grill ICE on how its agents have been conducting some raids.

"I do have a lot of heartburn over ICE saying that they don't need a judicial warrant to go into somebody's private home," Evans said.

Immigration officers typically need an administrative warrant before making an arrest under U.S. immigration law. Evans says the Constitution is clear on search and seizure.

"I believe that you need a judicial warrant to go into people's private residences. And I think that's a pretty iron-clad standard that's been established through decades of Supreme Court law."

Democrats agree. They say ICE agents should be follow the same requirements as local law enforcement, including judicial arrest and search warrants, use of force limits, mandatory body cameras and a ban on face masks.

"Billions of dollars have been dedicated to terrorizing immigrant communities bringing fear and chaos across the country," said Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Democrat who represents Colorado's 7th Congressional District.

Pettersen says Democrats are standing firm on their demands.

"We need to take the leverage that we have in Congress and continue to fight back," she said.

Some Republican leaders support body cameras, but they are opposed to banning face masks and requiring judicial warrants.

Both sides want more state and local involvement with ICE but in different ways. Democrats want to give state and local officials authority to investigate and prosecute federal agents. Republicans want state and local officials to cooperate more with agents.

In Colorado, ICE is barred from going into local jails to make arrests.

"If you don't want ICE in the neighborhoods, tell the sanctuary cities and states to allow ICE to go get the bad guys in the jail when state and local law enforcement arrests them rather than turning them free and making ICE go back out into communities," Evans said.

Evans says in his district -- which is 40% Hispanic -- he's seen only targeted enforcement against criminals.

But that's of little comfort to Pettersen, whose district includes a property owned by the parents of Alex Pretti -- an American citizen killed by federal immigration agents in Minnesota.

"Donald Trump promised that we were going to go after the most dangerous criminals. That is something that nobody disagrees with. That is not what is happening right here," Pettersen said.

The data analytics firm Relevant Research tracks the average daily population at ICE detention facilities nationwide. As of two weeks ago, it says, nearly 80% of detainees at the ICE facility in Aurora have no criminal charges or convictions.