Kristi Noem DHS oversight hearing sparks tense debate | The Excerpt

Dana Taylor

*On the Thursday, March 5, 2026, episode of The Excerpt podcast: *A House Judiciary Committee hearing with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem became a flashpoint over immigration enforcement, as Democrats pressed her on two fatal shootings during a federal operation and alleged DHS obstruction. USA TODAY National News Reporter Lauren Villagran joins The Excerpt to discuss.

*Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. *This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Dana Taylor:

House Judiciary Committee oversight hearings are meant to hold federal agencies accountable, but the latest involving Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, have become a flashpoint in the debate over immigration enforcement.

Hello, and welcome to USA TODAY's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Thursday, March 5th, 2026. While Noem had staunched support from Republicans on the Oversight Committee, Democratic lawmakers grilled her on several controversial issues, including the shooting deaths of two Americans during a federal operation, and allegations that the Department of Homeland Security has obstructed oversight investigations. Joining me now to break down yesterday's hearing is USA TODAY National News Reporter Lauren Villagran. It's always good to have you on the show, Lauren.

Lauren Villagran:

Thanks, Dana.

Dana Taylor:

Lauren, a lot of the questions centered on the tactics ICE is using, including concerns about large scale raids and arrests and operations at or near schools. How did Noem defend those practices?

Lauren Villagran:

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Christine Noem has said over and over from the get go that ICE is performing targeted enforcement, searching for the, quote-unquote, "worst of the worst", criminals, people who have a criminal background, a serious criminal background. But Dana, we've seen from immigration researchers, immigrant advocates and attorneys around the country that that just isn't true. The widespread immigration enforcement that we've seen around the nation, from Los Angeles to Minneapolis and beyond, has frequently drawn in lots of other people, people who have a pending immigration claim, a pending asylum claim, a pending green card, and even US citizens.

Dana Taylor:

Secretary Noem refused to apologize to the families of Alex Pretti and Renée Good, the two Americans who were killed during protests in Minneapolis. How did that moment play out in the room?

Lauren Villagran:

Yeah, so over two days of testimony before both the Senate and House Judiciary Committees on Tuesday and Wednesday, Noem was continuously pressed to apologize to the families of Pretti and Good, as you said, Dana. She did not. She continually said that the investigations are ongoing when Democrats said, "Will you affirm that they were not domestic terrorists?" So I think we're going to continue to see that play out as the investigations continue.

Dana Taylor:

And she was also repeatedly asked about the death of a Rohingya refugee. Noem said the case of Nurul Amin Shah Alam is under review. Can you explain what happened there, and are there independent investigations underway?

Lauren Villagran:

The case you're referring to is of a nearly blind man who was allegedly released by US Border Patrol in upstate New York in front of a Tim Horton's donut and coffee shop at 8:00 PM at night, on a frigid night. The coffee shop was actually already closed. It had been closed since 7:00 PM. The man wandered off and ultimately died. Now, my understanding is that Buffalo local police are investigating the death as a homicide. Kristi Noem did say the matter was under review, as you said.

Dana Taylor:

She defended ICE entering homes without judge signed warrants, saying they've used administrative warrants 28 times. Lauren, what are administrative warrants, and who's authorized to sign off on those?

Lauren Villagran:

Yeah. Okay. This part is really important, and you actually saw pushback, both from Democrats and Republicans, more Democrats than the former, but this issue of what sort of warrant is needed to enter a home is a big one right now. ICE operates with administrative warrants, meaning that they can go after a person of interest in the public space with an administrative warrant signed by an ICE official. To enter a home, Democrats contend, under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, a judicial warrant is required. Now, the bar for that sort of warrant is much higher, Dana. A judge, a federal judge has to sign off on that home entry. Under a memo issued by Noem's Homeland Security, ICE is now authorized under this memo to enter homes with only an administrative warrant. This has many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle concerned for Americans' Fourth Amendment rights.

Dana Taylor:

There were four US citizens who were arrested by ICE who appeared at the hearing. What can you tell me about them?

Lauren Villagran:

So we know that ICE around the country at different times has been detaining US citizens. In some cases, during protests. In others, people who ultimately are US citizens but are viewed by ICE as potential undocumented immigrants, including, for example, an Alabama construction worker who was Hispanic. There have been many cases. A Congresswoman from California brought four US citizens along who had all been detained by ICE. Ultimately, none of them faced criminal charges of any kind, and the Congresswoman and other Democrats are challenging ICE's going after American citizens.

Dana Taylor:

Kristi Noem has previously stated her intent to equip all federal agents with body cameras, but in yesterday's hearing, she said the DHS isn't funded for enough cameras. Is that claim accurate, Lauren?

Lauren Villagran:

I don't have a lot of clarity on that, Dana, right now. What I can tell you is that Homeland Security has already deployed body cams. Border Patrol wear body cams. Kristi Nome during the hearing said that the extra funding that ICE received last year under the One Big Beautiful Bill, which was done under reconciliation and was considered, quote unquote, "extra funding" for this agency was in the tune of more than a hundred billion dollars. So I think Democrats were questioning why ICE wouldn't be able to invest in the body cams. Noem said it was because that funding came with very specific line items of how it was supposed to be used. There's 45 billion going to detention, for example, and it was something that the lawmakers were going to look into.

Dana Taylor:

Some senators, including Senator Tillis, have called for Noem's resignation. Is this call coming mainly from Democrats or is it bipartisan?

Lauren Villagran:

Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who is not seeking reelection, was one of the more outspoken Republicans over the two days of Senate and House Judiciary Committee hearings. He has called for the resignation of Noem, and he is prepared to wield the power that he has as an outgoing Senator to hold up votes if he doesn't get what he wants. He has asked her for a litany of items and information regarding immigration enforcement and other matters. Democrats as well forcefully called for her resignation and impeachment, challenging her leadership of Homeland Security on several fronts. One Democrat Representative, Jesús Chuy Garcí of Illinois who represents Chicago, called for the dismantlement of DHS, saying that the agency had gone rogue and was surveilling US citizens and should be dismantled.

Dana Taylor:

Lauren, lawmakers also questioned a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign meant to deter migrants from entering the US, including why Secretary Noem herself appeared in those ads. What concerns have critics raised about that spending?

Lauren Villagran:

Yeah, so the Department of Homeland Security has been spending billions of dollars on publicity around mass deportation. That, of course, was one of President Donald Trump's top promises and a focus of his first year in office. Kristi Noem herself has appeared in many of these advertising campaigns, including one that involved her on horseback in front of Mount Rushmore. I will say, Dana, that Noem says that this advertising saves Americans money because it helped convince potentially millions of immigrants in the country illegally to, quote unquote, "self-deport". That was her argument.

Dana Taylor:

Of course, this hearing comes amid an even larger fight over immigration enforcement and DHS funding. What did the last two days of hearings tell us about the broader political battle over immigration policy right now?

Lauren Villagran:

So Dana, it's a really interesting time because we know that President Trump won the election in 2024 in part on the basis of his promise to conduct a mass deportation. But what we've seen over the past 12 months is that Americans have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the tactics that ICE has used to round up people. Noem repeatedly, like we said earlier, said that ICE was conducting targeted enforcement, but many Americans, particularly in the wake of Minneapolis and the two fatal shootings of Pretti and Good, saw something else on their social media platforms, on their cell phone screens, on their television screens, and public opinion polls began to fall. You started to see support, both for ICE and President Trump's immigration enforcement tactics drop dramatically in January.

Now, with so much going on in the world, how focused will the Trump administration be going forward on immigration enforcement is something we're going to be watching at USA TODAY, but certainly, the infrastructure is in place.

Dana Taylor:

Lauren Villagran is a national news reporter for USA TODAY. Lauren, it's always good to have you on.

Lauren Villagran:

Thanks for having me, Dana.

Dana Taylor:

Thanks to our senior producer, Kaely Monahan, for her production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to [email protected]. Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of USA TODAY's The Excerpt.