Rep. Steve Cohen suggests that Kristi Noem has no business leading ICE.
Kristi Noem oversaw U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security until her departure in March 2026.
During her tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem oversaw a highly controversial expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) backed by an unprecedented $85 billion budget. Her enforcement protocols included a massive, aggressive recruitment drive offering $50,000 sign-on bonuses and a public warning for individuals to carry proof of U.S. citizenship. Additionally, Noem initiated federal litigation against app stores to ban applications that tracked the real-time locations of ICE personnel, arguing that they endangered agents’ lives.
The administration faced severe backlash in January 2026 after a deployment of 2,000 agents to Minneapolis resulted in ICE fatally shooting two U.S. citizen protesters. Noem’s subsequent characterization of the incident as “domestic terrorism” sparked widespread condemnation from local leaders. Following intense congressional scrutiny, protests, and a Senate hearing where officials testified that she lacked the information to back her terrorism claims, Noem was removed from office and later appointed as a special envoy.
Noem had no experience in the legal field or law enforcement, so what would she know about anything ICE does? So basically, by Republican standards, Kristi Noem was a DEI hire when she worked with ICE.
By Conservative standards, she's a DEI hire. She had no experience in legal or law enforcement, so what would she have done for ICE? Nothing, that's why she was out so fast.
— Crankers (@crankers69) September 1, 2026
