WASHINGTON (AP) — A groundswell of voices have come to the same conclusion: Kristi Noem must go.
From Democratic Party leaders to the nation's leading advocacy organizations to even the most centrist lawmakers in Congress, the calls are mounting for the Homeland Security secretary to step aside after the shooting deaths in Minneapolis of two people who protested deportation policy. At a defining moment in her tenure, few Republicans are rising to Noem's
defense.
“The country is disgusted by what the Department of Homeland Security has done,” top House Democratic Reps. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Pete Aguilar of California said in a joint statement.
"Kristi Noem should be fired immediately,” the Democrats said, “or we will commence impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives.”
What started as sharp criticism of the Homeland Security secretary, and a longshot move by Democratic lawmakers signing onto impeachment legislation in the Republican-controlled House, has morphed into an inflection point for Noem, who has been the high-profile face of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement regime.
Noem's brash leadership style and remarks in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good — in which she suggested Pretti “attacked” officers and portrayed the events leading up to Good's shooting an “act of domestic terrorism” — have been seen as doing irreparable damage, as events on the ground disputed her account. Her alliance with Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, who was recalled from the Minnesota operation Monday as border czar Tom Homan took the lead, has left her isolated on Capitol Hill.
“What she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying. She should be out of a job," said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
“I think the President needs to look at who he has in place as a secretary of Homeland Security," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. "It probably is time for her to step down.”
President Donald Trump defended Noem on Wednesday at multiple junctures, strongly indicating her job does not appear to be in immediate jeopardy.
Asked by reporters as he left the White House on Tuesday for a trip to Iowa whether Noem is going to step down, Trump had a one-word answer: “No.”
Pressed later during an interview on Fox News if he had confidence in Noem, the president said, “I do.”
“Who closed up the border? She did,” Trump said, “with Tom Homan, with the whole group. I mean, they’ve closed up the border. The border is a tremendous success.”
As Democrats in Congress threaten to shut down the government as they demand restrictions on Trump's mass deportation agenda, Noem's future at the department faces serious questions and concerns.
The Republican leadership of the House and Senate committees that oversee Homeland Security have demanded that department officials appear before their panels to answer for the operations that have stunned the nation with their sheer force — including images of children, including a 5-year-old, being plucked from families.
“Obviously this is an inflection point and an opportunity to evaluate and to really assess the policies and procedures and how they are being implemented and put into practice,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, where Noem had been the state's House representative and governor before joining the administration.
Asked about his own confidence in Noem’s leadership, Thune said, “That’s the president’s judgment call to make.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Noem a “liar” and said she must be fired.
Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that DHS enforces the laws from Congress, and if lawmakers don't like those laws, they should change them.
“Too many politicians would rather defend criminals and attack the men and women who are enforcing our laws,” McLaughlin said. “It’s time they focus on protecting the American people, the work this Department is doing every day under Secretary Noem’s leadership.”
The ability of Congress to restrict Homeland Security funding is limited, in large part because the GOP majority already essentially doubled department funding under Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts law.
Instead, Democrats are seeking to impose restraints on Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations as part of a routine annual funding package for Homeland, Defense, Health and other departments. Without action this week, those agencies would head toward a shutdown.
To be sure, Homeland Security still has strong defenders in the Congress.
The conservative House Freedom Caucus said Tuesday in a letter to Trump that he should invoke the Insurrection Act, if needed, to quell protests. The group said it would be “ready to take all steps necessary” to keep funds flowing for Trump's immigration enforcement and removal operations.
On the job for a year, Noem has clashed at times with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, as Republicans and Democrats have sought greater oversight and accounting of the department's spending and operations.
Noem has kept a low profile since the Saturday press conference following Pretti's death, though she appeared Sunday on Fox News. She doubled down in that interview on criticism of Minnesota officials, but also expressed compassion for Pretti's family.
“It grieves me to think about what his family is going through but it also grieves me what’s happening to these law enforcement officers every day out in the streets with the violence they face,” she said.
Impeachment, once a far-flung tool brandished against administration officials, has become increasingly commonplace.
Two years ago, the Republican-led House impeached another Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, in protest over the then-Biden administration's border security and immigration policies that allowed millions of immigrants and asylum seekers to enter the U.S. The Senate dismissed the charges.
On Tuesday, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said if the Republican chairman of the panel, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, does not launch an impeachment probe, he would.
Raskin said he would work with the top Democrats on the Homeland Security and Oversight committees to immediately launch an impeachment inquiry related to the Minnesota deaths and other "lawlessness and corruption that may involve treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
More than 160 House Democrats have signed on to an impeachment resolution from Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill.
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Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana, Kevin Freking and Joey Cappelletti contributed to this story.
