Within the wake of the deadly capturing of a Minnesota mom by an immigration agent this month, Home Democrats have filed articles of impeachment in opposition to Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem.
These lawmakers are on the right track, however they needn’t have waited so lengthy. All through her yr on the Division of Homeland Safety, Noem has proven disregard for judicial and congressional authority, and she or he has misled the American folks. Her management is endangering the nation. She must be faraway from workplace earlier than she will be able to do extra of the identical and worse.
As secretary, Noem has displayed a troubling sample of unethical conduct. Her infamous photo op final March, posing in entrance of detainees in El Salvador’s CECOT jail, was not simply grotesque; it might have violated Geneva Conference provisions against the general public exploitation of prisoners.
In October, Noem ordered a video blaming Democrats for the federal government shutdown to be performed at airports nationwide. This was in direct battle with the Hatch Act, which restricts federal staff from participating in partisan political exercise.
In November, the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica reported that an organization tied to Noem bought cash from $220-million Homeland Safety advert contracts in a secret, no-bid course of.
None of those situations mirror sound judgment by the particular person charged with preserving our nation secure.
Noem doesn’t appear to respect the judicial department. She defied a federal choose by not turning around deportation flights to El Salvador final March. Her brokers in Chicago have used chemical sprays on protesters a number of instances despite a court order forbidding them from doing so. Talking on “Meet the Press” in November, Noem mentioned, “We’ll proceed to do the proper factor, proceed to work and shield People, it doesn’t matter what radical choose comes out and tries to cease us.” These actions, coupled along with her personal phrases, reveal an unacceptable disdain for our constitutional system of checks and balances.
Beneath Noem, officers from the Division of Homeland Safety and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have flouted congressional authority. Members of Congress have for months been denied their lawful proper to examine detention services in Minnesota, New Jersey, Florida and California. Such oversight is crucial to defending the well-being of detainees, particularly as a result of the division gutted its personal watchdog businesses.
Noem has additionally made false or deceptive statements to Congress, the press and the general public. She made so many derogatory remarks about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man deported by mistake to El Salvador, {that a} federal choose rebuked her for inflammatory feedback. Noem has typically declared that ICE does not detain or deport U.S. residents, even though it does. ProPublica has, the truth is, documented more than 170 cases of People detained by immigration brokers. And though Noem likes to repeat that ICE brokers are going after “the worst of the worst,” internal agency data show that they’ve arrested practically 75,000 folks with no legal information.
When summoned earlier than a congressional committee in December, Noem struck a defiant tone. “I’ll think about your asking me to resign as an endorsement of my work,” she told one lawmaker. Nonetheless, this was earlier than the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. Now the general public seems to have lost confidence in Noem, whose job approval just lately slipped to 36%.
True, Noem was appointed by President Trump to execute his aggressive immigration enforcement agenda. Anybody else put within the function would most likely even have carried out these insurance policies.
It’s how Noem has carried out her duties that demonstrates unfitness for her job — not solely pursuing the president’s agenda but in addition racking up a physique rely, defying the legislation and mendacity.
She can also be failing on the most simple features of her function. Contemplate that, beneath her management, FEMA has been broadly faulted for responding too slowly to pure disasters in Texas and North Carolina. Or that Noem has allowed division social media accounts to characteristic white nationalist memes and questionable messaging, together with recruitment posts saying, “Wish to deport illegals together with your absolute boys?”
Noem’s tenure has already had grave penalties. Thirty-two folks died in ICE custody in 2025, making it the agency’s deadliest year in additional than twenty years. Throughout Trump’s second time period, immigration brokers have shot at folks at least 16 times.
People want a Homeland Safety secretary who will comply with the legislation, respect Congress and inform the reality to the general public. Kristi Noem just isn’t that particular person. Beneath her, the division is harming residents, not defending them. Lawmakers ought to press her impeachment forward and take away her from workplace — except she has the decency to resign first.
Raul A. Reyes is an immigration legal professional and tv commentator in New York Metropolis. X: @RaulAReyes Instagram: @raulareyes1
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Concepts expressed within the piece
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The creator contends that Noem has demonstrated a troubling sample of disregarding judicial authority, citing her defiance of a federal choose by not halting deportation flights to El Salvador final March and noting that Division of Homeland Safety brokers in Chicago deployed chemical sprays on protesters regardless of a courtroom order forbidding such motion.
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The creator argues that Noem has repeatedly made false or deceptive statements to Congress and the general public, together with claims that ICE doesn’t detain or deport U.S. residents regardless of documented circumstances of People detained by immigration brokers and practically 75,000 arrests of individuals with no legal information.
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The creator characterizes Noem’s March picture op at El Salvador’s CECOT jail as not solely grotesque however probably violative of Geneva Conference provisions in opposition to the general public exploitation of prisoners, and views it as emblematic of her broader unethical conduct.
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The creator asserts that Noem has violated the Hatch Act by ordering a partisan video blaming Democrats for the federal government shutdown to be performed at airports nationwide, and has allowed division social media accounts to characteristic white nationalist memes and questionable recruitment messaging.
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The creator maintains that beneath Noem’s management, the Division of Homeland Safety has failed fundamental features, with FEMA broadly faulted for gradual responses to pure disasters in Texas and North Carolina, and contends that 32 folks died in ICE custody in 2025, making it the company’s deadliest yr in additional than twenty years.
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The creator asserts that Noem’s management has didn’t respect congressional oversight, with members of Congress denied lawful entry to examine detention services throughout a number of states for months.
Totally different views on the subject
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The Division of Homeland Safety dismissed the impeachment initiative as “foolish,” arguing in a press release that Tren de Aragua and MS-13 are among the many most violent gangs globally and that the administration is justified in its enforcement actions[2].
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Supporters of the administration’s immigration enforcement method acknowledge that whereas the El Salvador detention facility video could also be strategically unwise in authorized proceedings, its deterrent impact on unlawful border crossings serves coverage targets[3], with some noting that public consciousness of penalties might scale back migration makes an attempt.
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The Republican-dominated Home and Senate current structural obstacles to elimination, requiring a two-thirds majority within the Senate, making the impeachment effort largely symbolic given the absence of Republican backing for the initiative[1].
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These defending Noem’s tenure argue that the aggressive immigration enforcement insurance policies she implements mirror the mandate President Trump appointed her to execute, and that any successor would doubtless pursue related enforcement methods[3].
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Some commentators counsel that Noem is solely fulfilling her appointed function of executing the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda, and query whether or not the controversies surrounding her mirror coverage disagreements slightly than real unfitness for workplace[3].
