Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wasn’t exactly on firm political ground before recent developments in Minnesota. On the contrary, the South Dakota Republican was generally seen as a hapless Cabinet secretary, known more for dishonesty, inefficiencies and costume changes than governing successes.
But in the wake of federal immigration agents fatally shooting Alex Pretti, followed by Noem’s indefensible lies about the incident, the secretary’s political standing is in free fall.
Even if we were to narrow the focus to the executive branch, Noem clearly has a problem. Shortly after Donald Trump humiliated the secretary by deploying border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota, and having him report to the White House instead of DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection — an agency that falls under the DHS umbrella — issued preliminary findings about the Pretti shooting that appeared to contradict Noem’s own public comments.
But to fully appreciate the scope of the secretary’s troubles, it’s even more important to shift the focus to Capitol Hill. As MS NOW reported:
Two Republican senators joined the growing chorus of lawmakers calling for the ouster of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after the death of a Minnesota man over the weekend at the hands of federal immigration agents.
GOP Sens. Thom Tillis, N.C., and Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, on Tuesday called for Noem to leave her post leading DHS, the department charged with overseeing a surge of as many as 3,000 federal immigration agents to Minneapolis as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation push.
“I think that what she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying,” Tillis told reporters on Tuesday, saying he hadn’t decided whether to back a push to impeach Noem. “She should be out of a job. … She needs to go.”
Around the same time, Senate Majority Leader John Thune was asked whether he still has confidence in the DHS secretary. Rather than answer the question directly and offer support to his former home-state colleague, the South Dakotan replied, “That’s the president’s judgment call.”
Among Senate Democrats, meanwhile, there’s intensifying interest in Noem’s impeachment. As this week got underway, Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada publicly called for impeachment proceedings to begin. And soon after, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ruben Gallego of Arizona made related comments.
As for developments in the House, an impeachment resolution targeting Noem, recently introduced by Democratic Rep. Robin Kelly of Illinois, is quickly picking up support. When it was first unveiled, the measure had 69 cosponsors. As of Tuesday night, that total was up to 156.
What’s more, on Tuesday afternoon, the entirety of the House Democratic leadership team — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar — issued a joint statement that concluded, “Kristi Noem should be fired immediately, or we will commence impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Around the same time, Jeffries appeared on MS NOW and said, “Kristi Noem is a despicable, corrupt, pathological liar.”
Subtle, it was not.
To be sure, the president has said multiple times in recent days that Noem isn’t exiting. But once the resignation boulder starts rolling downhill, gathering momentum, it’s tough to stop it. Watch this space.
