Democrats push for Kristi Noem’s impeachment if Trump doesn’t fire her

Democratic leaders in Congress are joining a growing call to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem if she refuses to step down after federal officers fatally shot a second person in Minneapolis this month during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in a joint statement with Minority Whip Katherine Clark and House Democratic Caucus chair Pete Aguiltar, said Noem “should be fired immediately, or we will commence impeachment proceedings.”

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” they wrote.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is urging the Republican-led committee to “immediately commence” impeachment proceedings to remove her from office — or Democrats will launch investigations into “all potential constitutional crimes” allegedly committed by the secretary.

Under her leadership, Homeland Security has “unleashed a shocking assault on the most basic Constitutional rights and freedoms of the American people,” according to Raskin.

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Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee also threatened Noem’s impeachment if she doesn’t resign, saying that she “destroyed public confidence in her ability” to lead the agency.

More than 155 House Democrats have signed a resolution for her impeachment, though it’s unlikely a Republican-controlled Congress will advance any effort to oust a key member of Trump’s Cabinet. Trump, meanwhile, has privately and publicly feared a wave of impeachment hearings if Democrats win back the majority in midterm elections this fall.

Calls for Noem’s impeachment have accelerated after Customs and Border Protection agents fatally shot Alex Pretti just weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis.

“Far from condemning these unlawful and savage killings in cold blood, Secretary Noem immediately labeled Renee and Alex ‘domestic terrorists,’ blatantly lied about the circumstances of the shootings that took their lives, and attempted to cover-up and blockade any legitimate investigation into their deaths,” according to Raskin, referencing Noem’s defense of the officers and the Trump administration’s rejection of state and local law enforcement efforts to investigate the killings.

DHS officials have dismissed calls for Noem’s impeachment, saying that Democratic lawmakers are merely focused on “showmanship and fundraising clicks.”

Trump met with Noem for two hours in the Oval Office Monday evening, according to The New York Times, though the president did not suggest her job was at risk. The president insists Noem is “doing a very good job” and won’t be calling for her resignation, he told reporters Tuesday.

But the administration has already reshuffled leadership for the Minnesota operation, and the president deployed his border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis while border patrol “commander-at-large” Greg Bovino is imminently expected to leave the state.

Noem has “the utmost confidence and trust of the president of the United States,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Monday briefing.

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The calls for her impeachment are also reaching a fever pitch as members of Congress stare down a vote on a $1.3 trillion government spending package that includes Homeland Security, which could bring lawmakers to yet another stalemate and trigger a second potential government shutdown in months.

Senate Democrats say they will not vote to fund Homeland Security without new guardrails for immigration enforcement.

“Republicans are planning to shut large parts of the government down on Friday so that the DHS killing spree unleashed in Minnesota can continue throughout America,” House Democratic leaders wrote Tuesday.

“That is immoral,” they said. “Federal agents who have broken the law must be criminally prosecuted. The paramilitary tactics must cease and desist. Taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for everyday Americans, not kill them in cold blood.”