At a tense oversight hearing held by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week, Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Gary Peters (D-MI) grilled Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Rodney Scott over video showing Border Patrol agents pepper-spraying and brutally forcing Alex Pretti to the ground before shooting and killing him.
The exchange centered on body-camera and bystander footage that Paul and Peters said showed Pretti holding only a phone and backing away from agents before he was sprayed at close range, forced to the ground, and then killed.
Paul framed the issue as one of public trust and proportional use of force. Watching the footage, he said Pretti’s posture appeared defensive, not aggressive. “This to me looks not like an offensive maneuver,” Paul said. “It looks like a defensive maneuver—holding his phone, holding his hand up to be sprayed.”
“There’s got to be a better policy,” Paul said. “You guys have to figure it out.”
Rodney Scott Dodges Questions When Pressed On Alex Pretti
When pressed by Paul on federal agents’ use of pepper sprays, Scott responded that they are intended for situations involving active resistance or as a de-escalation tool to prevent the use of more serious force.
Peters, however, said the video appeared to show the opposite. He pointed to a moment in the footage showing one of the federal agents spraying Pretti at close range while he held a phone and raised his hand to shield his face. “He still just had a phone in his hand, and he puts his hand up to basically protect his face from being sprayed,” Peters said. “Is there something we’re missing here?”
Scott declined to draw conclusions based on the footage alone, saying he would need to review it again and that multiple agencies—including the FBI, ICE, and CBP—were examining the incident.
Paul pushed back on the credibility of the investigation, noting that officials from the Trump administration had initially described Pretti as a terrorist or assassin. “People aren’t believing that it’s going to be an honest investigation,” Paul stated.
He repeatedly emphasized that the video showed Pretti retreating, not attacking officers. “At no time in the encounter do you see him try to strike an officer, nor does he brandish a weapon,” Paul said. “I don’t see any resistance.”
Peters then pointed to a moment in the video where an officer appeared to strike Pretti with a pepper-spray canister while he was on the ground. “Is beating someone with a spray canister, is that de-escalatory?” Peters asked.
Scott again declined to characterize the conduct, saying he did not know what instructions were being given or what officers perceived in the moment. In fact, Scott tried to defend the federal agents by painting Pretti as the aggressor. “What I’m seeing is a subject that’s also not complying. He’s not following any guidance. He’s fighting back nonstop,” Scott stated.
Throughout the exchange, both senators framed the issue less as a partisan fight and more as a question of basic standards for the use of force. Paul warned that a lack of accountability would further erode public confidence in federal immigration enforcement. At the same time, Scott—like many officials in the administration—deflected and dodged questions, failing to give meaningful answers and only proving Paul’s concerns that public trust in current leadership is waning.
