Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem discovered herself within the sizzling seat on Capitol Hill on Thursday, defending herself from Democrats who sharply questioned the Trump administration’s hardline immigration actions.
In a single notable alternate, Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., requested Noem if DHS had deported any army veterans — and she or he stated the division has not.
Magaziner then referred to a pill with a person named Sae Joon Park on the display screen, becoming a member of the listening to by Zoom.
Rep. Seth Magaziner speaks throughout a Home Homeland Safety listening to entitled “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland,” whereas Sae Joon Park, a Purple Coronary heart adorned U.S. Military veteran who self-deported to South Korea resulting from a elimination order, joins the listening to by way of a video name, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
Magaziner stated Park is a Purple Coronary heart recipient who was shot twice whereas serving with the U.S. Military in Panama in 1989, who was deported to Korea by the Trump administration.
“Like many veterans, he struggled with PTSD and substance abuse after his service,” Magaziner stated. “He was arrested within the Nineties for some minor drug offenses, nothing critical. He by no means damage anybody moreover himself, and he is been clear and sober for 14 years.”
When requested if she would thank Park for his service, Noem responded to the congressman, “Sir, I am grateful for each single person who has served our nation and follows our legal guidelines.”
Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem testifies earlier than the Home Committee on Homeland Safety within the Cannon Home Workplace Constructing on Dec. 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Pictures
A Division of Homeland Safety spokesperson later stated Magaziner failed to say that Park had a prison historical past, though the congressman did deal with that in his remarks.
“In 2010 an immigration decide issued him an order of elimination. Park’s enchantment to the Board of Immigration Appeals that very same month was dismissed by the Board in April 2011,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated within the assertion. “With no authorized foundation to stay within the U.S. and a closing order of elimination, Park was allowed to self-deport to Korea.”
In response to a query from Magaziner, Noem dedicated to reviewing Park’s case.
Magaziner additionally launched a army veteran named Jim Brown, from Troy, Missouri, who was sitting within the gallery behind Noem. Browns’s spouse — a local of Eire — has lived within the U.S. for 48 years earlier than being detained and dealing with deportation, the congressman stated. Her solely prison file was writing two dangerous checks totaling $80 a number of years in the past, Magaziner stated.
