Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday said she’s “still in charge” of her department as White House border czar Tom Homan has taken more control over President Trump’s immigration agenda.
Noem has come under fire after two deadly shootings by immigration officials in Minneapolis spurred an outcry toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its heavy-handed tactics in carrying out deportations.
At a press conference in Phoenix, Noem was asked if she or Homan currently oversees Trump’s mass deportation program.
“I am still in charge of the Department of Homeland Security. That includes all 23 different agencies under our umbrella, including ICE and CBP but also FEMA, TSA, Secret Service, the Coast Guard, many many more,” she said, referring to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration.
Noem held the press conference to pitch the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a bill requiring individuals to show proof of citizenship before registering to vote and requiring voters show identification before casting their ballot. The bill is now in the Senate after the House passed it on Wednesday.
The secretary has faced pressure from Democrats and Republicans after Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot dead during an immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota. Noem accused the Minneapolis residents of “domestic terrorism, despite video evidence undercutting the claim.
Democratic lawmakers and a few Republicans have called on Noem to resign or face impeachment. While Trump has stood by his homeland secretary, he deployed Homan to Minnesota in the face of mass protests. The border czar announced this week that the surge in immigration agents was ending.
“What she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying. She should be out of a job,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters last month. “It’s just amateur-ish. It’s terrible. It’s making the president look bad on policy that he won on. He won on a strong message on immigration. Now, nobody’s talking about that. … They’re talking about the incompetence of the leader of the Homeland Security [Department].”
Noem’s latest comments came the same day the The Wall Street Journal reported on “constant chaos” inside DHS. Sources said Noem berated staff if she saw Homan appear on television more often than she did, and allegedly asked staff to ensure larger crowds showed up at her press conferences. A DHS spokesperson denied this.
The secretary also fired a U.S. Coast Guard pilot for forgetting to move her blanket from one plane to another while undergoing maintenance, the Journal reported.
Trump has continued to publicly support Noem, saying she is “doing a great job.”
“The border is totally secure,” he said about Noem’s work last month. “You know, you forget we had a border that I inherited where millions of people were coming through. Now we have a border where no one is coming through. They come into our country only legally. As soon as you accomplish something, it goes into history and nobody ever wants to talk about it.”
