Immigration bosses defend agents after the killing of two US citizens

President Donald Trump's top officials have declined to comment on the killing of two US citizens, while forcefully defending the president's immigration agenda during a tense congressional hearing.

Facing sharp questions from lawmakers in Congress, the immigration bosses blamed protesters for inflaming rhetoric against agents and said their agencies would not be deterred.

"Let me send a message to anyone who thinks they can intimidate us. You will fail," said Todd Lyons, the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Tuesday's hearing comes after ICE agents shot and killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good last month, sparking outrage across the country.

Questions for Lyons and Rodney Scott, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), ran the gambit from ongoing activity in Minneapolis to potential future involvement in operations at the voting sites across the US.

Much of the session focused on a newly announced policy requiring ICE agents to wear body-worn cameras.

Officials defended the administration's actions in Minnesota, a Democrat-led state, and said footage from the cameras would be made public.

Since Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced ICE agents would wear body-worn cameras while they worked, more than 3,000 ICE officers have received their cameras, Lyons said.

Another 6,000 are being deployed, he said. There are some 13,000 ICE agents in the field.

Scott said he did not have the exact figure of CBP agents with cameras but out of some 20,000, there are 10,000 agents who have it.

"We're building that program out while we speak," he said.

The body-worn camera focus came into light after the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.

Both US citizens, Good and Pretti were each shot multiple times during enforcement operations.

Their deaths - and ICE's broader action - caused outrage in Minneapolis where some 3,000 agents were deployed at Trump's direction to crack down on illegal immigration.

Some of those agents have since left the city.

Officials were also questioned about federal immigration agents wearing masks during these operations.

When asked if he would agree to get agents to unmask, Lyons said he would not.

Lyons rejected claims that American were being targeted, saying no US citizens were deliberately detained, despite dozens of incidents documented online and reported by US media.

Lawmakers also pressed the officials on recruitment and training standards amid calls for more agents to join ICE and CBP.

Lyons said the substance of ICE training remained unchanged, but the schedule had been accelerated - from five days a week at eight hours a day to six days a week at 12 hours a day. Scott said CBP training had not changed.

The hearing featured several heated exchanges. In one, Lyons declined to comment when asked whether Secretary Noem should resign amid growing public frustration over DHS actions.

The most contentious moment in the hours-long hearing came when New Jersey Congresswoman LaMonica McIver - a Democrat who was detained last year while attempting to visit an ICE detention centre - asked Lyons whether he considered himself a religious man.

After he said he did, she asked: "How do you think Judgement Day will work for you with so much blood on your hands?"

"I'm not going to entertain that question," Lyons replied.

McIver pressed further, asking: "Do you think you're going to hell, Mr Lyons?"

He again refused to answer, and McIver was then cut off by the committee's chairman.

The White House later addressed the exchange on social media, saying McIver "steps completely out of line".

"This is seriously messed up," the post said.