Like millions of Americans, I watched in horror the videos from Minneapolis over the weekend. Saturday’s shocking, brutal and indefensible killing of Alex Pretti did not take place in the shadows. It happened in public, in broad daylight, because an out-of-control government agency believes it can act with impunity.
Pretti was killed because the leadership at the Department of Homeland Security has failed in its responsibility to rein in ICE and its partner agencies and ensure they respect Americans’ constitutional rights. Pretti was killed because DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has been an abject failure as the leader of this incredibly important department.
Pretti was killed because DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has been an abject failure as the leader of this incredibly important department.
It’s clear that Secretary Noem has lost control over her department and staff. She’s either too incompetent to rein in the agencies under her purview, or she endorses the blatant Constitutional violations being committed or — even worse — both. I’m under no illusions here that Noem is the only one to blame. She was picked by President Donald Trump for DHS because she’s a sycophant, her loyalty is only to him and she follows orders from White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and other extremists in the administration.
But as the secretary of DHS, the buck stops with her. She took an oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution as the leader overseeing agencies that include ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
But instead of making sure ICE and CBP follow the Constitution and don’t violate anyone’s rights, Secretary Noem has been asleep at the wheel, more focused on using your tax dollars for her own benefit than on protecting the homeland. Since her first day in office, she has made decisions that violate the public trust. She used your tax dollars to buy two private jets. According to reports, she even splurged to get planes with “the most spacious cabin in the industry,” spending four times the initial cost.
This is all while the Trump administration was using the pretext of going after “wasteful spending” in critical government programs that help working families. Americans in need got squeezed by high costs and got their Medicaid taken away and food stamps reduced as Noem focused on being able to fly around the country in luxury.
And it’s not just that she’s using her office for personal benefit. It appears that she’s also using her office to benefit her political allies. ProPublica reported in November that, under Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS awarded $220 million in taxpayer-funded advertising contracts to firms with close ties to her and other senior DHS officials.
In response to ProPublica’s report about the subcontractors who got hundreds of millions of dollars, DHS issued a written statement that said, “DHS has no involvement with the selection of subcontractors,” that the firm in question didn’t have a direct contract with DHS and that the agency “cannot and does not determine, control, or weigh in on who contractors hire.” But let’s be honest, who’s really buying that?
That was the last straw for me and for many around the country.
It is clear Noem is distracted, wasting your tax dollars and ignoring her department’s core mission, all while immigration agents are running rampant and killing U.S. citizens. And instead of taking accountability or expressing any regret for her actions, she decided to spread lies and mislead the American public, including when it came to Mr. Pretti’s brutal and unjustified killing.
That was the last straw for me and for many around the country. To see the secretary of Homeland Security insinuating — even before an investigation had started — that Mr. Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” who tried to kill ICE officers, when the videos show he never once brandished his weapon, was insulting and disgusting. Her failure as a leader has even led President Trump, the White House and even some Republicans in Congress to distance themselves from her. This then leads us to the question of why she is still in this role receiving a taxpayer-funded salary. As a member of the U.S. Senate, with the power to remove a government official after they’ve been impeached by the House of Representatives, I’m speaking out and sounding the alarm. I’m urging both parties to come together to start the impeachment of Kristi Noem, and I stand ready to vote to convict and remove her immediately from office. For the sake of transparency, for the safety of our communities and for the integrity of the institutions meant to serve the American people, Congress must act. Secretary Noem should be held fully accountable for her failed leadership, her destructive actions and her refusal to rein in dangerous overreach by ICE. The American people deserve better. And it is our duty to demand it.
Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, is a U.S. senator from Nevada. 
