Live updates: Kristi Noem testifies before Senate committee on DHS oversight

The Senate judiciary hearing has concluded after Noem faced over four hours of intense questioning from both sides of the aisle.

The hearing was held after Noem faced sweeping scrutiny and calls to resign her position after several controversial, ICE-related shootings in Minnesota earlier this year. The hearing on Tuesday was marked by several outbursts from protesters in the room, visible fury from Tillis, the Republican lawmaker from North Carolina who emerged as the most spirited GOP lawmaker to question Noem’s leadership of DHS, and repeated concerns from Democrats over how she has overseen ICE.

Durbin led Democrats on the panel in saying they back efforts to target violent illegal immigrants, but worry about tactics used by ICE against U.S. citizens, among other concerns.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) accused Democratic lawmakers of undermining the United States’s national security amid the fight over funding for DHS.

Democrats have stalled DHS funding, which includes money for ICE, from being renewed, as they press for reforms to ICE before it receives further taxpayer financing.

Cruz said the move put the country at risk, arguing that Democrats have shut down “the very department tasked with” protecting the U.S., and are effectively “weaponizing the budget process to advance political disagreements.”

“Like sentinels standing watch at the walls of a city, the men and women of DHS guard the homeland day and night with extraordinary dedication and professionalism, and yet, over the past 18 days, Democrats have shut down the very department tasked with that mission,” Cruz said. “The same voices that once called to abolish ICE and defund the police have now left the sentinels unsupported, and the watchtower dark. That is what the Democrat shutdown has done.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) slammed Noem on Tuesday for declining to retract her characterization of Alex Pretti and Renee Good as “domestic terrorists” during the Senate hearing.

“The so-called Secretary refused to apologize to their families for her disgusting lies when she testified today,” Jeffries said in a post to X. “This political hack has to go.”

During the hearing, Noem said she made the statements while relying on information relayed to her during “chaotic” incidents in Minneapolis. And the secretary denied under oath calling Pretti a domestic terrorist, despite statements she made during a January press conference.

“This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers committed an act of domestic terrorism,” Noem said at the time. “That’s the facts. … Violence against a government because of ideological reasons and for reasons to resist and to perpetuate violence. That is the definition of domestic terrorism.”

Noem sought to redirect focus to U.S. citizens who have lost loved ones to violent migrants in the country illegally, when pressed on controversial tactics used by ICE.

In response to accusations from Klobuchar that ICE officers racially profiled off-duty black police officers in Minnesota, Noem urged the senator to focus on the positive work ICE does, and referenced several “Angel” families sitting in the hearing room of those “victimized by criminals that we have removed from cities and from communities.”

When pressed by Blumenthal on Marimar Martinez, a U.S. citizen shot five times during ICE-related operations, and Javier Ramirez, a U.S. citizen detained by the DHS in Florida, Noem again pivoted to the families, referring to the death of Angel Samaniego in Connecticut.

“Sir, do you know? Do you know who Angel Samaniego is? Do you know? Recognize that name? Do you know this is an individual that was murdered by an illegal alien?” she asked. “I’d like to hear you say the name of one of our victims of illegal criminal activity, and fight for one of those victims so that we can stop as many of them from being created in the future by people who should never be in this country to begin with.”

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) continued to raise concerns about speculation that ICE could be deployed to polling locations during November’s elections, despite Noem’s assurance that there are no such plans.

“You’re saying there are no current plans. But obviously, plans can change,” Padilla told Noem, saying that her dismissal of fears is “not definitive enough.” The rumors were sparked in reaction to Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser, recently saying that ICE should be deployed to polling centers this fall.

“I want to ask you explicitly if President Trump or [White House deputy chief of staff] Stephen Miller directed you to do it anyway, with or without a bogus national emergency declaration? Would you say no?” he questioned, prompting Noem to again say, “There are no plans to have ICE officers at our polling locations.”

Tillis told Noem he would put a pause on all the president’s nominations before the Senate if she doesn’t swiftly respond to his questions about Operation Charlotte’s Web, an ICE surge that occurred last year in his home state of North Carolina.

Tillis said the DHS has not yet provided detailed records he requested “a month ago” on agents’s interactions with the public, including whether force was used, whether U.S. citizens were involved, and how agents justified each stop.

“That is stonewalling. That’s a failure of leadership, and that is why I’ve called for your resignation. And if I don’t get an answer to these questions….if I don’t get an answer that you’ve had a month to respond to, and the remaining ones, as of today, I’ll be informed that I’m putting a hold on any nomination until I get a response, and in two weeks, if I don’t get a response, I’m going to deny quorum and mark up in as many committees as I can until I get a response,” Tillis said.

Tillis cited a story from Noem’s book where she recounted a decision to put down a dog as part of the reason he doesn’t believe in her leadership.

“You talk about killing a dog that was 14 months old,” he said. “You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time and training, and then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it’s a leadership lesson about tough choices.”

Tillis said the account is emblematic of leadership issues he said Noem has continued to struggle with, including in overseeing ICE operations in Minnesota.

“My point is, those are bad decisions made in the heat of the moment, not unlike what happened up in Minneapolis. This is an exceptional nation, and one of the reasons we’re exceptional is we expect exceptional leadership, and you’ve demonstrated anything but that,” he said.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) issued Noem a resounding rebuke on Tuesday, marking himself as a Republican deeply critical of tactics authorized by the DHS secretary for use during ICE operations.

Tillis emphatically raised concerns that Noem is operating under deportation quotas set by Stephen Miller, who is Trump’s senior immigration adviser. The North Carolina was visibly irritated during his minutes-long rant against Noem, telling her he was giving her “a performance evaluation.”

“We want 1,000 a day, 6,000 a day, 9,000 a day, because numbers matter, right? No, they don’t matter. Quality Matters, not quantity. Quality. And what we’ve seen is a disaster under your leadership, Ms. Noem, a disaster,” he said. “I’m not looking for a response, and I’m saying to Miss Noem, that time after time after time, I’ve been disappointed.”

Democrats on the judiciary committee are concentrating their questioning of Noem on concerns about tactics ICE is using, veering away from a complete condemnation of the Trump administration’s deportation agenda.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) raised concerns about the case of Marimar Martinez, a U.S. citizen shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in Chicago last year, as well as Javier Ramirez, a U.S. citizen detained by the DHS in Florida. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) condemned ICE officers accused of racially profiling off-duty black police officers in Minnesota, while other Democratic lawmakers honed in on the controversial use of force against Pretti and Good in lethal Minneapolis encounters.

Democrats on the panel maintained they are in favor of deporting violent illegal immigrants. It is the tactics used by ICE and other federal agents under Noem’s tenure, and the types of people the government is detaining, that they are concerned about, the lawmakers contended.

“Secretary Noem has repeatedly claimed that the department is arresting the, quote, ‘worst of the worst, and making American cities safe.’ In fact, less than 14% of immigrants arrested during Trump’s first year back in office had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the top committee’s top Democrat, said. “Less than 14% — 1 out of 7 immigration agents arrive in cities without consulting local law enforcement, they roam the streets in paramilitary gear and arrest and detain people based on the color of their skin, their accents, and the language they speak.”

“That is not a public safety operation, that is a paramilitary occupation, and Secretary Noem has made excessive force the department’s default position,” Durbin added. “If someone is in this country seeking citizenship and commits a crime, serious crime, they should be asked to leave or incarcerated. Bottom line, there’s a way to deal with immigration that is sensible and humane on both sides.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem denied repeatedly that federal immigration agencies within her department have imposed quotas for the number of illegal immigrants whom law enforcement must arrest inside the United States.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) asked Noem if the DHS was told to “operate on any quotas or numerical targets for immigration arrests every day.”

“No, senator, we do not. We do targeted law enforcement operations going after those worst of the worst criminals that are here illegally,” Noem said.

“I would certainly prefer it if you did targeted operations against the worst of the worst,” Coons said.

“Just last year, Stephen Miller, who’s the president’s homeland security adviser and deputy chief of staff, went on Fox News and said, ‘We’re setting a goal, a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day, and President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number higher and higher,'” Coons said.

Last May, the Washington Examiner reported that Miller, alongside Noem, “eviscerated” the nation’s top ICE officials during a private meeting in Washington for not arresting more illegal immigrants.

“What’s your response to his public quote?” Coons asked Noem.

“I usually put out notices on things that are impacting our operations. There’s been no discussion or requirement on numerical quota targets; therefore, there would be no need to reject them in a memo unless I feared that they were being implemented, which they’re not,” Noem said.

Noem claimed she did not describe Alex Pretti, a protester killed during an incident with federal agents, as “a domestic terrorist,” in response to a line of questioning from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).

“I said it appeared to be an incident of [domestic terrorism],” Noem said, prompting Klobuchar to say, “I think the parents saw it for what it was.”

Noem made the statement under oath, with her statement contradicting what she said during a news conference on Jan. 24. At the time, the DHS secretary said Pretti committed an “act of domestic terrorism.”

“This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers committed an act of domestic terrorism,” Noem had said. “That’s the facts … Violence against a government because of ideological reasons and for reasons to resist and to perpetuate violence. That is the definition of domestic terrorism.”

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) spent his entire portion of questioning Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem asking her to explain how she spent taxpayer funding on deals that appeared to benefit her allies, as well as how she described a Minnesota man fatally shot by federal police.

Kennedy pushed Noem to explain why she was featured “prominently” in $220 million worth of advertisements urging illegal immigrants in the United States to self-deport.

“Sir, the president tasked me with getting the message out to the country and to other countries where we were seeing the invasion come from with with putting commercials out that told them that if they were in this country illegally, that they needed to leave, or we would detain them and remove them,” Noem said. 

Noem stated twice that she and President Donald Trump “had [a] conversation” about spending such a large amount of DHS funding on ads.

“The president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently?” Kennedy asked, adding that he doubted the White House Office of Management and Budget would have approved the expenditure.

Noem pushed back and said it would “be helpful to know … how effective that communications [sic] has been.”

Kennedy was not satisfied with Noem’s response. The GOP senator said the ads had been “effective in your name recognition,” suggesting they were intended to promote Noem’s name.

“My research shows that you did not bid them out — that you picked, in fact, one of the people you picked, the Strategy Group. I’m sorry, Safe America Media was a company formed 11 days before you picked them, and that the strategy group got most of the money, and the head of that is married to your former spokesperson [Tricia McLaughlin],” Kennedy said.

“Look, we all have friends who are qualified. I’m not quibbling with that. I’m just, it troubles me,” Kennedy said. “Quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer money when we’re scratching for every penny, and we’re fighting over decision packages.

Noem insisted that she had not selected McLaughlin’s husband’s firm and that “career officials at the department chose” who won the contract.

“I did not have anything to do with picking those contractors,” Noem said.

Noem said the ads were slated to run in March.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) urged Noem to address allegations that ICE engaged in discriminatory tactics during an incident in Minnesota, in which she said federal agents appeared to confront black officers without cause.

“They were people of color, off-duty police officers in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. The chief described how one off-duty officer, someone of color, a U.S. citizen, was stopped and confronted by ICE agents with their guns drawn, demanding her proof of citizenship,” Klobuchar said. “As the Chief really said, ‘I wish I could tell you that this was an isolated incident, but other chiefs said it had happened to their own officers.'”

When pressed on why the officers were stopped, Noem deflected, suggesting the senator was fixating on one bad apple. She urged Klobuchar to instead address “the good work” ICE is doing to “protect people from being victimized by people that are in this country that want to conduct violent crimes against them.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) pressed Noem to “deconflict” ICE operations with local authorities, which she agreed to do.

Whitehouse urged Noem to send the message down ICE ranks to make sheriffs and other local officials aware when they plan to carry out an operation “in another law enforcement agency’s jurisdiction,” arguing it would help de-escalate tensions and avoid “dangerous and unprofessional nonsense.”

Noem replied “Yes, sir,” but added that she has faced issues in sanctuary jurisdictions, with ICE officers having their private information leaked to the public if operation details are provided beforehand.

“At times, we’ve run into situations in sanctuary cities or in sanctuary states, we’re notifying that local law enforcement on some of these operations has doxxed them and their families and leaked a law enforcement operation which puts people’s lives in jeopardy,” she said. “So they absolutely want to work with cooperative local law enforcement … but I will tell you that our law enforcement are being doxxed at unprecedented levels.”

Noem said the threat of an attack by Islamic terrorists against the United States was up in the days since the Trump administration launched attacks on Iran.

“Now we’re, we’re engaged in military action against the mothership of terrorism, Iran, which I hope will sink pretty soon,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said. “Do you think the threat level against the United States is up or down when it comes to radical Islamic terrorists?”

“It’s up,” Noem said.

“It’s up? So you mean they actually may want to come here and hit us because we hit them in Iran,” Graham said.

Graham lambasted Democrats for not allowing DHS funding to move forward amid the partial government shutdown, adding that it was putting U.S. security at risk.

“America’s under siege now, likely to be attacked because radical Islam is under siege, and they’re going to hit back. We’re sitting here looking at each other and not funding,” Graham said.

Graham referenced a Texas resident who carried out a mass shooting in Austin over the weekend. The FBI is investigating the shooting as possible terrorism.