The focus of the hearing is likely to be on how Kristi Noem is pursuing President Trump's mass deportation efforts in his second term, after two U.S. citizens were killed by immigration officers.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is sworn in as she testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 3. The Department of Homeland Security has faced criticism over it's handling of immigration enforcement leaving the department unfunded.
Become a KPBS sponsor Noem, in addition to highlighting the Trump administration's accomplishments under this administration, told lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee how the shutdown is affecting regular Americans, including making air travel more difficult. "Senate Democrats who have chosen not to fund the department and have held this department hostage," she said in her opening remarks."As a result, critical national security missions, including border security, immigration enforcement, aviation security, disaster response, cyber security and the protection of critical infrastructure are all being strained," she said, adding that the agency is also struggling to prepare for World Cup security.But the focus of the hearing is likely to be on how Noem has been pursuing President Trump's mass deportation efforts in his second term. DHS is the agency that oversees both Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.just days after CBP officers shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January. Pretti was the second U.S. citizen killed by federal immigration officers in the city after Renee Macklin Good's death at the hands of an ICE officer earlier in the month. Noem drew bipartisan scrutiny for labeling Good and Pretti domestic terrorists shortly after their deaths.Last month, leadership of ICE and CBP said neither they nor anyone under their command had provided information to Noem to lead to that conclusion. When asked by Sen. Dick Durbin about what information lead to those statements, Noem said reports from agents on the ground. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said ahead of Noem's testimony that he looked forward to hearing how she would address that violence. "Let me be clear, one death is too many. But officers should never be threatened or harmed while enforcing our laws. And there is a clear difference between the conduct protected by the First Amendment and unlawful obstruction," Grassley said."From my perspective, I believe immigration enforcement and dignity aren't mutually exclusive."that much of the activity the government says amounts to obstruction — like observing and filming immigration officers — is constitutionally protected."With all of the violence and deaths involving DHS, the Secretary is apparently in no hurry to account for her mismanagement of this national crisis. And she expects us to rubber stamp her record-breaking budget in the meantime," Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Although there has been some bipartisan scrutiny of Noem's leadership at the hearing, lawmakers largely stuck to party lines. Democrats were critical of Noem's spending, arrest tactics and deportation targets. Republicans broadly defended the administration's goal of mass deportations. Many immigrant families have sheltered in place for weeks, afraid to leave their homes while foreign-born U.S. citizens have been carrying their passports with them amid reports of widespread racial profiling by immigration officers. For weeks, immigration officers also deployed aggressive tactics against Minnesotans protesting and observing their actions.to change the behavior of immigration officers, but finding consensus has been tough. Some asks, such as requiring immigration officers to wear body cameras, have bipartisan support. But GOP lawmakers have pushed back on other demands, such as prohibiting agents from wearing masks to conceal their identities. Republicans say doing so would make it easier for people to dox federal officers., including Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who is not running for reelection but sits on the Senate Judiciary committee, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.from the oversight arm of CBP contradicted the narrative of Pretti's death. And last month, the heads of ICE, CBP and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, another agency within DHS, also testified before the Under Noem's leadership, DHS has been at the epicenter of the Trump administration's ambitious effort to detain and deport one million people living in the U.S. without legal status each year. During Trump's first year in office, the agency claims it deported, a coalition of academics and lawyers who track and publish immigration enforcement data, the number of deportations from the interior of the country, away from the border, increased nearly fivefold during the first nine months of Trump's second term. The administration roughly tripled the number of detention beds for people arrested within the country, the analysis also found. Noem has also overseen a hiring surge to bring on thousands of new ICE officers, which has led some immigrant advocates toTo some extent, DHS' immigration agenda has been curbed by federal courts, including the Supreme Court. Federal district judges have blocked the agency from using wartime powers to expedite deportations, for instance,her Senate confirmation last year as a vocal supporter of Trump's immigration agenda. But her tenure has also faced questions about how she's handled other agency responsibilities, including her management ofXimena Bustillo is a multi-platform reporter at NPR covering politics out of the White House and Congress on air and in print.Meg Anderson is an editor on NPR's Investigations team, where she shapes the team's groundbreaking work for radio, digital and social platforms. She served as a producer on the Peabody Award-winning series Lost Mothers, which investigated the high rate of maternal mortality in the United States. She also does her own original reporting for the team, including the series Heat and Health in American Cities, which won multiple awards, and the story of a COVID-19 outbreak in a Black community and the systemic factors at play. She also completed a fellowship as a local reporter for WAMU, the public radio station for Washington, D.C. Before joining the Investigations team, she worked on NPR's politics desk, education desk and on Morning Edition. Her roots are in the Midwest, where she graduated with a Master's degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.Following CalMatters investigation, Congress finds data brokers cost consumers tens of billions of dollarsKPBS keeps you informed with local stories you need to know about — with no paywall. Our news is free for everyone because people like you help fund it.
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