Noem spars with Congress over deportations, immigration enforcement

WASHINGTON (CN) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and a panel of Trump administration officials faced tough questions from lawmakers on Thursday over President Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration and what his administration has framed as “domestic terrorism.”

Noem ducked out early from the House Homeland Security Committee hearing, during which she sparred with Democrats who accused her agency and the Trump White House of unlawfully deporting American citizens and using violence against protesters, among other things.

The Homeland Security Department under Noem’s leadership has been under intense scrutiny after the president authorized major deployments of federal agents and immigration enforcement to cities across the country, including Chicago, Memphis, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. And the agency has faced legal challenges to its effort to deport large numbers of people it says were in the U.S. illegally — sometimes to countries where those people have no personal connections.

Those issues were front and center for Noem during Thursday’s hearing, but she insisted that the Homeland Security Department and the Trump administration were merely enforcing the law.

“We have never once detained or deported an American citizen,” Noem told lawmakers. “We have not held them or charged them. When we find their identity, then that is when they are released.”

Democrats on the committee, though, were less than convinced by Noem’s claims that the Homeland Security Department was acting above board.

“Look, there have been at least 170 known cases of citizens being arrested or detained by federal agents this year alone,” said Michigan Representative Shri Thanedar. “This is the truth. Are you lying to the American people right now by denying these reports?”

Noem replied that federal agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol were doing “targeted enforcement operations” against criminals and people here illegally. “Individuals in that area may be detained until we verify who they are, and then they are released.”

The secretary also defended the conduct of ICE and CBP agents, who have been criticized for using aggressive tactics and deploying riot suppression weapons such as tear gas and pepper spray against nonviolent protesters.

“I will tell you that every single ICE agent, CBP agent, federal law enforcement officer that’s out there doing their work every day — none of them will rest until our communities are safe,” said Noem.

Thanedar accused the homeland security secretary of “incompetence” and called on her to resign. “Sir, I will consider your asking me to resign as an endorsement of my work,” Noem fired back.

Noem also clashed with Rhode Island Representative Seth Magaziner, rejecting his assertion that the Homeland Security Department had deported U.S. military veterans. Magaziner responded by bringing forward a Zoom video call with Sae Joon Park, a 55-year-old U.S. Army veteran who self-deported to South Korea in June after facing a removal order based on drug possession charges from 2009.

“I’m grateful for every single person that has served our country and follows our laws,” Noem said, adding that she would “absolutely” look into Park’s case.

She also came to blows with New Jersey Representative LaMonica McIver, who is facing federal charges following an altercation with law enforcement last spring as she and other lawmakers attempted to visit an immigration detention facility in Newark.

“Do you agree that using DHS resources to target members of Congress is an abuse of power?” the congresswoman asked.

Noem accused McIver of “talking crazy” and making things up. “We are not doing that,” she said. “We are out there enforcing the law.”

Meanwhile, lawmakers on Thursday also grilled Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and Michael Glasheen, operations director of the FBI’s national security branch.

Glasheen faced particularly tough questions from Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the committee, who demanded more information about the Trump administration’s determination that antifa is the most pressing security threat facing Americans at home.

“When you look at the data right now, when you look at the domestic terrorist threat, right now what I see from my position is that’s the most immediate violent threat we’re facing on the domestic side,” Glasheen told Thompson.

But he struggled to answer questions about how the FBI characterized antifa — a highly decentralized anti-fascist and anti-racist left-wing movement — as an organization.

“Where in the United States does antifa exist, if it’s a terrorist organization that you’ve identified as number one?” Thompson asked.

Glasheen responded that the FBI was “building out the infrastructure” to collect such information. But that wasn’t a satisfying answer for the congressman, who demanded to know how federal law enforcement had determined that antifa is a terrorist organization.

“It’s very fluid, it’s ongoing for us to understand that,” said the FBI official. He was unable to tell Thompson how many people he believed belonged to antifa or where such a terrorist organization is headquartered.

Much like other Trump administration officials who have testified before Congress in recent months, Noem’s appearance at the Homeland Security Committee was marked by protests, at least one of which actively interrupted the hearing.

As one demonstrator was thrown out of the hearing room, panel chairman Representative Andrew Garbarino instructed U.S. Capitol Police to arrest him and issued a warning to other would-be protesters. Still, as Noem made her early exit, she was heckled by demonstrators, some wearing T-shirts which read “abolish ICE.”

The Homeland Security secretary’s premature departure was reportedly due to a Federal Emergency Management Agency meeting that conflicted with Thursday’s hearing. But Florida Representative Jared Moskowitz revealed on social media that the meeting had in fact been canceled.

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