Secretary of Domestic Security Kristi Noem received criticism from the Democrat House while testifying before the DPR’s Domestic Security Committee on the 2026 budget on Wednesday.
The trial quickly turned to immigration and showed back and forth with Democrats at the Committee, with members of Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Said that under his leadership, it was “a sad day for DHS.”
“To be honest, I have never seen things like this that function as the main democrats in this committee. Even when, the secretary of the lady, my Republican colleagues and I have strong disapproval, we are still having a productive conversation and doing our job to keep America safe.
“In your watch, the department violates the law, it hurts people, and that makes America less safe,” he added. “Trump’s government immediately lied to the court and the American people.”
Secretary of Domestic Security Kristi Noem spoke in a hearing with the DPR’s Domestic Security Committee in Capitol Hill on May 14, 2025, in Washington, DC
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Noem was asked about what happened last week in New Jersey when three Congress members tried to get access to Delany Hall, a private detention center that accommodated ice prisoners, and testified that it was “without law.” The incident outside the detention center resulted in close range and ended with the Mayor of Newark Ras Baraka, a Democrat who also nominated himself as Governor of New Jersey, was arrested.
“We have recordings of congress members who slam their bodies into our law enforcement officers, pushing them to scream dirty on their faces, attack them with their fists and vice versa attack law enforcement,” Noem testified. “The behavior is a violation of the law, and under this body. Congress members may not enter the center of detention or federal facilities. Whether these members ask for a tour, we will certainly facilitate the tour.”
Delany Hall is under the scope of the Department of Domestic Security and Immigration Enforcement and Customs and Excise, and members of the congress believe that they have the right to carry out legal “supervision” of facilities through the responsibilities of their congress.
“They are working with criminals to make criminal acts. This is not supervision. This is committing serious crimes,” Noem said earlier this week at Fox News. “This comes out and attacks the people who defend the rule of law, and that is really terrible.”
Then in the trial, Rep. Seth Magaziner, Dr.I., slammed Noem because what he said was a lack of access to legal advisors.
“You deport your children with cancer, children who are US citizens, a gay makeupist who does not commit crimes and does not even enter the country illegally,” the magazine told Noem. “Instead of focusing on real criminals, you have let innocent children deported when you fly throughout the country playing dressing up for cameras.”
Meanwhile, Noem and House Republicans highlighted what he called “Total Operational Control” from the southern border. Noem said he did not know how many immigrants who did not have the legal status to be in the US were released to the country during the Biden government and hearing that Trump’s government had focused on improving the border crisis.
“We really don’t know how many dangerous people are still in the United States. Since President Trump is in the office, in just a few months, we have deported more than 250 terrorists known abroad,” he said.
Representative of the ranking member of the Bennie Thompson Committee spoke during a DPR Committee on the Motherland Security Session with a testimony from the Secretary of Domestic Security Kristi Noem on the request of the 2026 fiscal year budget, at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, May 14, 2025.
Jim Watson/AFP Via Getty Images
Noem is also pressed about whether all people arrested by Ice have received legal processes – and he answered yes, through the tools given by the congress, with the reason that the accelerated transfer was a tool permitted by the congress.
Triggers controversial back and forth, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., Shows the picture of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s hand that seems to have MS-13 letters in his hand to represent what the tattoo means.
Noem will not answer the question whether the photo was edited or manipulated to put the letters in his fingers, and he seemed to avoid analyzing photos.
“You will not see the photo, and we will not bring whether it is treated or not staying here, and you look to the right, a photo in front of the Mrs. Secretary,” Swalwell said. “Can you look right in the photo in front of you?”
“And the letters – the MS and number 13 – is it treated or not?” He asked.
“I don’t have knowledge about this photo,” he said, adding that “unbelievable” that Swalwell wants to focus on Abrego Garcia.