Senate Democrats call on Kristi Noem to testify ‘immediately’

Senate Democrats are demanding answers from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with congressional testimony, following two fatal shootings by federal immigration officials in Minneapolis.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Democrats called on her to testify before the panel “without delay,” adding that the federal officials’ actions under her authority warrant immediate oversight by the Senate committee.

“You have presided over an increasingly dangerous and untenable breakdown in trust in federal law enforcement across the country, and your actions in the wake of these tragedies have weakened the Department’s credibility, enflamed tensions, harmed public safety, and divided Americans,” the senators wrote Wednesday.

Renee Good and Alex Pretti were both killed this month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during operations in Minneapolis. The incidents have become the catalyst for protests against federal immigration enforcement tactics and a congressional push to unseat Ms. Noem.

The seven Democrats allege that she authorized actions that have resulted in a “vast overreach of the Department’s authorities and have cost innocent lives.” They say masked federal agents have violently assaulted peaceful protestors, arrested American citizens without cause and undermined protections under the Fourth Amendment, in addition to the two recent deaths.

Rather than waiting for the facts of both fatal shootings to emerge, the senators said, Ms. Noem blamed Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti for their own deaths and took the reins from local state officials to conduct a federal investigation.

“The fact that you have doubled down to justify these indefensible killings in the face of widespread public outrage has caused DHS to lose credibility and calls into question your ability to lead this Department and its tens of thousands of federal agents entrusted to ensure public safety and to protect the homeland,” the letter reads.

The request comes on the heels of calls to remove Ms. Noem as secretary, which include multiple Democratic senators who previously voted to confirm her.

At a critical congressional moment, Democrats have said they would not pass a full-year funding bill for DHS without accountability measures to rein in federal immigration agents, as Congress faces a looming partial government shutdown.

Since Ms. Noem’s confirmation, she has failed to appear before the committee for its annual hearing, despite testifying in front of a House panel.

But the letter comes days after Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul announced that the heads of ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will testify before the panel on Feb. 12. The Kentucky Republican even publicly thanked Ms. Noem for helping to arrange the hearing.

The Democrats say that she has an obligation to appear before the Senate committee to answer questions about federal agents’ tactics and why her department has not paved the way for independent investigations.

They also said their letter serves as notice for DHS to preserve all records related to both fatal shootings and all other instances of excessive use of force by federal agents conducting immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.