Noem defends DHS at Senate hearing
She calls lapse in funding for department 'reckless'
By: Bart Jansen
and Christopher Cann
USA Today
..... Senators pressed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on controversial recent shootings and the arrest of U.S. citizens in a Judiciary Committee hearing March 3. [2026]
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The Department of Homeland Security is temporarily operating without funding for the third time in five months because of an impasse in Congress over immigration enforcement.
..... Noem decried the funding lapse in her opening statement, saying that it is "reckless and unnecessary" and that disrupting the department is "indefensible."
..... Ranking Democrat Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois blasted Noem in his opening statement.
..... Federal agents, he charged, have "wreaked havoc" in U.S. cities and inflicted "unspeakable cruelty." He accused the agency of "tramping" on constitutional rights, stopping people "based on the color of their skin" and holding them without due process.
..... "That is not a public safety operation, that is paramilitary operations," he said. "And Secretary Noem has made excessive force the agency's default potion."
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Committee chair Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, noted the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti during Minnesota mitigation protests but said officers shouldn't feel threatened while enforcing laws.
..... Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have received an 8,000% increase in threats and a 1,300% increase in assaults, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
..... "Mistakes have been made," Grassley said. "Let's make it clear: One death is too man. But offices should never be threated or harmed while enforcing our laws."
..... Noem said 3 million immigrants left the United States during the first year [2025] of Trump's second term, including 2.2 million who left voluntarily. ICE arrested 1,5000 known and suspected terrorists and 7,700 known gang members, she said.
..... She added that close to 650 federal agents remain in Minnesota weeks after the administration said they would draw down the controversialists Operation Metro Surge.
..... At its peak, the operation saw about 3,000 federal agents fan out across Minneapolis and St. Paul.
..... When asked when the number of agents would fall to their original footprint, Noe said, "We're continuing to work at that" but that some investigators will remain to probe alleged fraud.
..... The fiercest questioning form Democrats concerned Noem's claims of domestic terrorism and the arrest by immigration authorities of several U.S. citizens.
..... Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, had three citizens who were arrested over the last year [2025] stand up and question Noem about each case, including that of Marimar Martinez, who was shot five times by a federal immigration agent in Chicago.
..... When asked if she thought the actions of the agent who shot Martinez were wrong, Noem said, "Sir, the way that you have portrayed it, it appears to be, but let me look into the specifics."
..... She also agr4ed to "look into" the case of Fernando Gomez Ruiz, a citizen who was arrested by ICE, held for several days and allegedly denied medicine for his diabetes, leading him to pass out.
..... However, Noem resisted when pressed on her comments on Pretti immediately after his death, saying, "I did not call him a 'domestic terrorist,' I said it appeared to be an incident of" domestic terrorism.
..... "I think the parent saw it for what it was," said Senator Amy Klobucheare, D-Minnesota.
..... In a separate exchange, Noem declined to apologize for that comment, saying she was "relying on reports from the ground and from agents" in the field.
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The current leaders of ICE and Border Patrol testified before Congress in January [2026] that their agents did not tell DHS leadership that Pretti was a domestic terrorist.
..... "Is it so hard to say you were wrong?" Durbin asked.
..... "I absolutely strive to provide factual information and will continue to do that, Noem said.
..... "And when you fail, do you admit it publicly?" Durbin asked.
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Legal matters took up part of the conversation.
..... Grassley said the department's use of administrative warrants has been criticized and asked Noem how they work.
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An internal ICE memo from May 2025 said agents can use force to enter a residence with only an administrative warrant, which are singed by ICE officials and do not require a judge's approval," according to a whistle-blower complaint. constitutional scholars, immigration experts and a federal judge have said that violates the Fourth amendment.
..... Noem said Congress granted DHS the authority to issue administrative warrants to arrest mitigation suspects in addition to seeking judicial warrants. She said of 400,000 ICE cases, administrative warrants were used 28 times to enter a home.
..... "It is the legal process that we have, the was given us by Congress," Noem said. "We will continue suing this tool."
..... Durbin asked Noem why federal judges have found DHS has violated court orders hundreds of times.
..... A Republican-appointed suggest in Minnesota identified 200 court orders that ICE officials violated during two months, Durbin said, and in a sworn court filing, federal officials acknowledged violating court orders 50 times in New Jersey "in rent weeks."
..... Noem said she couldn't respond to specific cases but said, "We follow federal court orders when they apply."
..... Addressing several other controversies, Noem said that ICE does not have arrest quotas and that she has no plans to assign ICE officers to polling places in November, [2026] retorting on the latter to Senator Chris Coons, D-Delaware, "there should be no need to unless yo plan on illegal aliens voting."
..... Noem defensed DHS purchasing multiple luxury jets that have reportedly raised concerns within the Trump administration.
..... "The department has found that in purchasing our aircraft that we will save the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars," Noem said, later saying the aircraft "will be utilized for executive air travel and deportations."
..... The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing with Noem March 4. [2026]