On Tuesday, Rep. Andrew R. Garbarino (R-New York) plans to lead what is likely to be the most contentious and closely watched hearing of his short tenure as a House committee chairman. The focus is the Trump administration’s surge in immigration enforcement in Minnesota and elsewhere that has included the shooting deaths of two people in Minneapolis by federal authorities.
The Homeland Security Committee hearing, which follows public blowback against the administration’s actions, is notable for a Republican-led House that has scaled back oversight hearings since President Donald Trump returned to office. It will be led by a chairman who also stands out — both for his rapid ascent into the ranks of House leaders and for his reputation as a moderate willing to break with his party on high-profile issues.
Garbarino, 41, faces the challenge of leading the interrogation of top immigration officials at the peril of angering the White House over Trump’s marquee policy of immigration — at time when polls suggest a majority of voters disapprove of the president’s handling of it. Those scheduled to testify Tuesday include leaders at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Former congressman Peter T. King, a Republican who represented the same district as Garbarino for 28 years, said it will be a difficult balancing act for the third-term lawmaker, who ascended to chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in July.
“He’s going to run the risk of Democrats saying he’s stonewalling, and he’s protecting ICE,” King said, while some Republicans on the committee are going to say “you can’t give an inch” in defending the administration.
Garbarino’s temperament suits him well for what’s ahead, King said.
“He has a good style,” King said, adding that Garbarino doesn’t get rattled easily. “He’s not going to be hitting somebody with the gavel.”
Garbarino, in an interview, said he doesn’t see his job Tuesday as protecting the administration.
“One of our roles is congressional oversight,” he said. “It’s not my job at this hearing to tout any accomplishments.”
During the hearing, Garbarino, who practiced law before joining Congress, said he plans to ask questions about the training of immigration agents and their use of force, among other topics.
Garbarino’s independent streak has at times put him at odds with his party as he sided with Democrats on some consequential votes.
He supported legislation in 2022 that codified same-sex and interracial marriage. The previous year, he was one of only eight House Republicans to support a bill with new background check requirements for firearm transfers. The same year, he was one of 13 House Republicans to vote for President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill. The latter move prompted then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) to post Garbarino’s telephone number on social media in retaliation.
And yet, Garbarino has vaulted past most rank-and-file House Republicans to land key committee assignments.
Besides chairing Homeland Security, he sits on the coveted House Steering Committee that is responsible for doling out committee roles, and he also serves on the Financial Services and the Ethics committees. The latter often deals with controversies. During Garbarino’s tenure on Ethics, the panel voted in 2024 to release its report on former congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) that concluded Gaetz regularly paid for sex and possessed illegal drugs, charges Gaetz consistently denied.
Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, some of Garbarino’s more right-wing colleagues have expressed skepticism about how he’ll handle a high-profile examination of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.
“I think we need to have strong conservative leadership on that issue in the House,” Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) said. When asked if he doubts whether Garbarino fits that description, Cloud responded: “We’ll see.”
Similar doubts surfaced at the start of Garbarino’s tenure as Homeland chair. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) resigned from the committee after losing a bid to lead it to Garbarino.
“I would have been disagreeing with probably 90 percent of the positions that he takes,” Higgins said. “So the best thing for me to do as a joyful warrior was to withdraw from that position that was going to be fraught with disagreement, and I would have essentially derailed the chairman.”
Garbarino was recommended by the steering committee in July over two other lawmakers as well: Reps. Michael Guest (R-Mississippi) and Carlos A. Gimenez (R-Florida).
During his tenure in Congress, Garbarino has accomplished a feat that few have in the GOP conference: winning the favor of both former speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and the current speaker, Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who helped Garbarino land a seat on the Ethics Committee. His shared first-floor Capitol hideaway is another signal of his close ties to leadership — a perk extended to a select few in the conference.
“Part of my personality is being able to bring people together, you know, get things done, break down barriers, and part of that is … I do it through humor,” Garbarino said.
For the most part, Garbarino, who represents Long Island’s South Shore, has won the respect of members of the New York delegation and fellow committee members, including those who represent red districts hundreds of miles from his home state.
“In many ways, he’s very low-profile. From a public perspective, he doesn’t do a lot of press releases or social media or fanfare, but he has great relationships, and he’s utilized those relationships to deliver for New York,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-New York) said, adding that she considers Garbarino a “professional schmoozer.”
Rep. Brad Knott (R-North Carolina), a freshman on Homeland Security, said Garbarino “embraces every positive stereotype of a New Yorker: He’s loud, he’s brash, he’s hilarious, he’s off the cuff.”
King attributed Garbarino’s rapid rise in the House to his affable nature and described him as being a “straight shooter.”
“People don’t worry about him knifing them in the back, agreeing to one thing and then saying another or doing something else or criticizing something that he really supported,” King said.
King also led Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee, serving from 2005 to 2013 as chairman and ranking Republican when the focus was more on counterterrorism in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — the events that led to the committee’s creation.
The committee has since evolved, pivoting from counterterrorism to its current focus on immigration and border security. Given that, Garbarino faces another balancing act of guiding the committee’s priorities. Just recently, he shepherded the latest fix to the 9/11 health care program in a fraught spending package that passed after a temporary government shutdown.
Tuesday’s hearing is long overdue, according to Garbarino’s Democratic counterpart, who said he’s been pushing for an oversight hearing on the Department of Homeland Security since Trump took office in January 2025.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (Mississippi), the panel’s ranking Democrat, said Garbarino “understands that part of our role is oversight,” adding that Mark Green (R-Tennessee), who led the panel until his resignation from Congress last summer, was not willing to convene a hearing focused on ICE.
“He understands that part of our role is oversight based on our jurisdiction, so we’ve been able to get a commitment to have a specific hearing on ICE, which we couldn’t get Green to do,” Thompson said.
Garbarino acknowledged some of the challenges that come with the hearing that is expected to be confrontational and emotional. He pledged he will “keep order” and ensure every member adheres to the committee’s five-minute rule for questioning.
“I’m not the Hulk, where all of a sudden I’ll turn angry,” he said.
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