During a House Homeland Security Committee meeting, ICE Director Todd Lyons was haunted by a previous statement he made in April 2025. While questioned by Rep. Eric Swalwell, the Director was asked basic “yes” or “no questions. However, despite the ease of his answers, the responses out of D.C. were still incriminating.
“Director Lyons, last year you said, in Phoenix at the Border Security Expo, that you wanted to see a deportation process that was like, quote, ‘Amazon Prime, but with human beings,'” Swalwell stated during the meeting. He continued, adding a visceral metaphor to his questioning stemming from Minnesota’s recent deaths at the hands of federal agents.
“Mr. Lyons, how many times has Amazon Prime shot a mom three times in the face?” The question alluded to the death of Renee Good. Despite the somber nature of questioning, Lyons didn’t miss a beat before responding, “None, sir, but you’re also–“ Before being cut off by Swalwell. “It’s the square root of zero, that’s right?” The representative says.
Lyons balked at this, continuing to defend his response.“But if we’re going to go that route of my comment, I did say that comment. However, that comment was taken out. If you go back and watch the video, I did say that we need to be more efficient when it comes to removing individuals from the United States. Because ICE doesn’t detain punitively. We detain to remove. I don’t want to see people in custody,” the director says. He adds that at the end of the day, they deal with human beings, so ICE “can’t be like that.”
Swalwell ignores this, marching on with questioning. “Speaking of human beings, how many times has Amazon Prime shot a nurse ten times in the back?” Alluding to Alex Pretti, who also lost his life at the hands of federal agents. When Lyons responds, “None,” Swalwell asks one final question. “How many times has Amazon Prime dragged a woman out of her car by her hair and then dragged her down the street?” Predictably, Lyons’s response was, “none.”
For All the World to See
Clips from the meeting were posted on Reddit, where opinions quickly flew. “‘We don’t detain people punitively.’ Yes you do. You detain civil observers every day in Minneapolis without charges and release them after holding them at the Whipple building for hours,” one user says after watching. “You don’t wanna see people in custody???? Then why the bleep are you buying up massive buildings for mass prisons????” Another comments angrily.
As threads continued in different forums, reactions generated similar frustration with Lyons’ answers. “Lies! If this were about immigration, they wouldn’t be building concentration camps on US soil!” One Redditor accuses. Another replied, saying, “Make it make sense, then. They don’t wanna detain indefinitely. But they are buying and building warehouses across the country.”
