News - January 29, 2026 - by Ray Hagar

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Nevada's 2nd U.S. House District Rep. Mark Amodei said this week that he supports the deportation of undocumented criminals and those who have remained in the U.S. after losing asylum hearings.

However, like many Americans, he is appalled by the recent violence in Minneapolis at the hands of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

ICE needs an overhaul of its culture and must re-assess its tactics in immigration crackdowns that have led to the killings of two U.S. citizens in the past few weeks, he said on Nevada Newsmakers.

"What you're doing now isn't working," Amodei, R-Carson City, told host Sam Shad. "There needs to be a pivot, not a go-away."

"There needs to be a pivot in the culture," Amodei continued. "The mission is good, the culture for how you're enforcing that ... (is not)."

The current ICE enforcement strategy has careened wildly away from the original "worst first" deportation philosophy that was originally promised by the Trump administration, Amodei said.

"You told people -- and I'm talking about the (Trump) administration, you said 'worst first' and people who have had their (asylum) hearings (and were denied). That's the general mission. And so if that's what you're doing, I should be able to tell you whether they are or not. And I can't tell you."

Amodei, however, agreed with Trump's move to remove Greg Bovino, Border Patrol commander at large, from his ICE leadership role in Minneapolis. Bovino is under-qualified and should have never been put in that leadership role, Amodei said.

"So how do you go from the El Centro down by San Diego? How did you get picked for this?" Amodei said, referring to Bovino's Border Patrol background. "It's like, you know what? This does not inspire confidence in the decisions made at the department level. That's as nice as I can say it."

Amodei hopes things improve since Trump has put border czar Tom Homan in charge of ICE in Minneapolis.

"I'm looking forward to what Tom Homan has to say," Amodei said, adding he hopes substantial changes in the agency are coming.

"He (Trump) is not sending Homan because everything's great, you know,  and so it's like, guess what? This has to pivot to something that works better," Amodei said.

Amodei was also critical of the chain of command that seemingly put Bovino under the direct control of the Kristi Noem, the embattled Secretary of Homeland Security.

"The guy from the Border Patrol who's in charge of the overall operation, doesn't report to the commissioner of the Border Patrol," Amodei said. "He reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security and that's the set up. The good news is -- if you want control, you've got it. The bad news is -- when control's not a great thing to have -- you got that, too."

Trump's homeland security adviser, Stephen Miller, called Alex Pretti, the man most recently shot and killed by an ICE agent, a "would-be assassin," in trying to justify his killing.

Amodei said it was difficult to justify the violence but did not mention Miller.

"You've got a unique situation there, too," Amodei said about ICE in Minneapolis. "That doesn't justify the stuff we saw this weekend, which gets us into, what are you people doing in terms of setting the culture there?

"But I got to tell you, I'm saddened," he added.

ICE in Nevada?

Amodei was also asked what would be his reaction if ICE was sent to Las Vegas or Reno as part of the crackdown on illegal immigration.

He would support ICE in Nevada if efforts were refocused on the "worst first" roundup of undocumented residents.

"You say, what would happen if it was here? Well, if you're concentrating on those folks, sorry, I support getting rid of those kinds of people," Amodei said.

Senate turmoil

Senate Democrats are organizing a list of changes they want for ICE and are vowing to block funding for the Department of Homeland Security to get their proposed changes, according to various reports.

Amodei is wary of Democrats' plans, which could include a partial shutdown of the federal government. Blocking funding for ICE or Homeland Security could get complicated, he said.

"Right now it (Homeland Security funding) is part of six bills over in the Senate," Amodei said. "And so the question is, are you going to shut down defense (spending)? You're going to shut down (Department of) Labor? HHS (Health and Human Services)? You're going to shut down Homeland, all
that, all sorts of stuff?"

Senate Democrats are organizing a list of changes they want for ICE and a key vote could come today (Thursday), according to reports.

"And we're going to find out, because right now, it looks like, well, they're going to try to vote with all six of them and see how that goes," Amodei said.

The Trump administration must be included in negotiations to keep the federal government open, Amodei said.

"The White House, the administration has got a role to play in this," Amodei said. "It's like, you know what? There needs to be some changes in the culture, the enforcement culture. So let's see how that discussion goes."

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