My Message to President Trump: Kristi Noem Must Go

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Congresswoman Hillary Scholten (D-MI-03) released the following statement calling on President Trump to remove U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem from her position. 

“Mr. President, I want to address you directly. Cabinet officials serve at the pleasure of the President. When they fail to effectively carry out the duties you assign them—especially when lives are at stake—it is your responsibility to act. You cannot wait any longer to remove Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security.

Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, the Department of Homeland Security has lost control of its most basic obligation: enforcing the law while protecting human life. Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers killed two American citizens. Renee Good, a young mother, and Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse, should be alive today. Instead, they were shot by officers acting as agents of their own government. This is not effective enforcement. It is lawlessness and a catastrophic failure of leadership.

As a former Department of Justice attorney who worked on immigration issues at our nation’s top law enforcement agency, I take border security and national safety seriously. I have cast tough, responsible votes to secure our borders and protect our country. I believe the Department of Homeland Security plays a critical role in national security and public safety, and those missions deserve appropriate funding and serious leadership. What we are seeing now reflects neither.

Mr. President, the American people are speaking clearly, including many of your strongest supporters. Polling shows that roughly two-thirds of voters disapprove of ICE’s operations. Your approval numbers are at historic lows. People are not asking for chaos and cruelty on their streets. They are asking for competence, restraint, and the respect for the law that your campaign promised.

Congress should not have to step in to address an executive branch failure. None of us want to spend Congress’ valuable time consumed by impeachment debates, or see the government in another shutdown. The country needs leaders focused on lowering costs and helping families get ahead.

Impeachment is reserved for high crimes and misdemeanors, and those determinations are made in Congress through a serious investigatory process. But as President, the Constitution does not require you to wait for more tragedy before acting. You have the authority—right now—to remove an ineffective leader whose continued service has cost American lives. At this moment, there is no confidence that Secretary Noem is doing the job she has been entrusted to do.

If you refuse to act, then Congress will have a responsibility to pursue oversight and investigation to determine the full scope of this failure. Mr. President, do not let it come to that.”

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