Kristi Noem testifies in Congress on immigration crackdown: ‘Our department has delivered historic results’

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem faced bipartisan questioning Tuesday in an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Congress, focusing on the Trump administration's broad anti-immigration offensive.

The appearance marked her first appearance before Congress since the deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, shot by federal agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 7 and Jan. 24, respectively, amidst protests against the raids.

"There are no quotas" at DHS

During the hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) argued that, under Noem's leadership, DHS "has been devoid of any moral compass or respect for the rule of law." According to Durbin, the department's agents have caused "chaos" in cities, patrolling with paramilitary equipment and detaining people based on their appearance, accent or spoken language.

The senator also accused Noem of making "baseless" accusations of links to domestic terrorism to Good and Pretti after their deaths.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) accused DHS of acting unconstitutionally to satisfy the White House's demands for "higher and higher deportation figures."

"It's why we have roving patrols, racially profiling whomever they see and creating a 'show me your paper state,'" Coons said. "It's why you go into sensitive locations like churches and hospitals and schools. It's why you have been arresting children, the elderly, refugees, the disabled," he added.

Noem denied that DHS operates on a quota system.

"There are no quotas at the Department of Homeland Security," she said. "When we do law enforcement operations we do them on targeted enforcement, getting public safety threats off of our streets and out of our communities to protect the American people."

A safer community

In her appearance before Congress, Noem expressed condolences to the families for the "tragic" deaths of Good and Pretti and said she does not label them as domestic terrorists.

"I said it appeared to be an incident of [domestic terrorism]," she said.

In her opening statement, Noem also defended the government's actions. She claimed that arrests of undocumented immigrants at the border have fallen to historic lows and that "nearly 3 million illegal aliens" have been removed from the country.

"Our department has delivered historic results and has made our community safer since the start of President Trump's second term," she said.

Noem also urged lawmakers to reach a deal that would end the partial government shutdown, which has blocked funding for parts of her department.

Biden killed "sensible immigration"

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham praised immigration enforcement actions, claiming the Trump administration inherited a "mess" from former Democratic President Joe Biden.

"Millions and millions of people came into this country," Graham said. "Sensible immigration died on Biden's watch. It was replaced by an out-of-control open border, just absolute chaos."