Nearly all Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee did not attend a Wednesday hearing convened by Democrats to examine the use of force by federal immigration officers against U.S. citizens, including people who were shot during enforcement operations. The hearing, held under Minority Day rules in the House — a procedural allowance that gives the minority party the ability to convene a full committee hearing — was one of the few opportunities Democrats have had to formally call their own witnesses.

Among those who testified was Marimar Martinez, a U.S. citizen who was shot five times by immigration enforcement agents in Chicago. Democrats also focused attention on two U.S. citizens killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis: Renee Good and Alex Pretti. The deadly shootings occurred in January, and following those incidents, Democrats refused to approve further funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. That funding impasse has contributed to what the source reporting describes as a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security since mid-February.

"Under President Trump, ICE and CBP have killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in cold blood, and shot, beat, harassed, arrested, or locked up countless more innocent people," the top Democrat on the committee said during the proceedings, according to reporting from States Newsroom.

The hearing did not produce any immediate legislative action, but Democrats used it to build a public record on the administration's enforcement tactics. For Montanans with family members who are mixed-status households or who work in industries with immigrant labor, the national debate over immigration enforcement has direct local implications.