Senate Questions Kristi Noem on Leadership of Homeland Security
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified today in an oversight hearing held by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Noem’s appearance comes as the department faces a partial government shutdown, following contentious immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota and the shootings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good.
Senators questioned Noem on everything from detainment policy and public remarks after the shootings to the department’s use of administrative warrants and whether DHS officers would be present at polling locations during elections.
While senators generally stuck to partisan talking points, Noem also faced scrutiny from Republicans, including a call for her resignation from North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.
In an excoriating speech in which he called Noem’s tenure a “disaster,” Tillis threatened to withhold “any en bloc nominations” and “deny quorum and markup in as many committees” as he can until he receives answers to the questions he has posed to DHS.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) pressed Noem on a ProPublica report that her department spent $220 million on ads contracted to her former political consultants, which he described as featuring Noem “prominently.”
Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Peter Welch (D-VT) also raised the ad contract, expressing concern that DHS did not follow federal contracting guidelines in awarding the contract to a company created 11 days before the award, owned by associates of Noem.
Noem denied “weighing in” on the contracts.
Kennedy repeatedly asked Noem if she okayed the ads with President Donald Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, adding he “couldn’t agree” or see the president agreeing with the lack of competitive bidding and cost of the ads, given his focus on cutting spending.
Tillis, who is not running for reelection, also questioned Noem’s leadership of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), questioning her disbursement of emergency funds to North Carolina as it rebuilds from a series of natural disasters.
“You’ve failed at FEMA,” Tillis said, adding that he has “reason to believe” Noem is “violating the law, either knowingly or unknowingly.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) asked Noem how the ongoing conflict with Iran had “uniquely intensified” the effects of the two-week partial government shutdown. Noem responded that we have “known and suspected terrorists” in the country, but we “don’t know where they are.” Lee closed by calling for the immediate funding of Homeland Security, adding Congress should “focus on nothing else.”
Thanking Noem for appearing before the committee, Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL) described the hearing as “important to have” for the American people to “know what the government is doing” and to see that it’s “placing their interests first, finally.” Characterizing the Biden administration’s border policies as a “dereliction of duty,” Moody decried the “millions” of “gotaways” that entered the country unimpeded, asking Noem if the situation she inherited was “unlike any successor has had to deal with,” to which the secretary responded, “Yes, absolutely.”
While Democratic senators sought to hold Noem responsible for procedural violations in ongoing DHS investigations, Noem rejected the idea, deferring to the Department of Justice and the FBI regarding investigations into agent-involved shootings.
Noem also rejected the characterization that DHS has specific quotas for immigration arrests. However, U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller previously said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would set a goal of a “minimum” of 3,000 arrests a day.
According to Noem’s testimony, “Nearly 3 million illegal aliens left the United States as a result of this administration’s enforcement efforts — including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations and more than 675,000 removals.”
Daily encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border have declined by 96 percent to the lowest levels ever recorded, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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