Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
President Donald Trump on Tuesday rebuffed calls for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to step down from her position in the midst of criticism of immigration officials in the wake of a protester-involved shooting in Minneapolis over the past weekend.
Some Democratic lawmakers called for Noem’s ouster after an agent shot and killed a protester, Alex Pretti, during an altercation in Minneapolis on Saturday. Noem had described Pretti as someone engaging in domestic terrorism, although a top Justice Department official said that administration officials don’t believe Pretti’s actions reach the legal standard for terrorism.
Trump was asked about Noem’s job status while he was speaking with reporters outside the White House on Tuesday. He told reporters he believes Noem is doing a “very good job” and a “great job” as the head of the sprawling federal department, and he cited her work in shutting down the United States–Mexico border.
“Is Kristi Noem going to step down?” a reporter asked him. Trump directly responded by saying no.
Speaking about the border, Trump said that people “forget” that the prior administration had allowed “millions of people” to come through. Border authorities now allow “no one” to come through, and people are only coming into the United States legally, he said.
The Biden administration and the Democratic Party willfully “had allowed tens of millions of people” to enter the United States, with many being murderers, drug dealers, addicts, and people who were removed from mental institutions, Trump said.
On Monday, Trump said that private conversations with both Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey were productive, while the two Democratic leaders offered similarly positive comments.
Walz’s office said Trump had agreed to direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure state authorities could conduct their own investigation into the Pretti shooting, while Frey said in a post on X that his understanding was that some federal agents would begin leaving the city on Tuesday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said his party would vote against funding legislation that includes money for DHS, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal immigration agency. Congress faces a Jan. 30 deadline to fund the government or risk a partial government shutdown.
Schumer, in a Sunday statement, said Republicans should “join Democrats in overhauling” both ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“Senate Democrats will not allow the current DHS funding bill to move forward,” he also said.
Democratic lawmakers in the House have called for Noem’s removal after the Pretti shooting, with several issuing a joint statement on Monday calling for immigration agents in Minneapolis to be stood down.
“This tragic killing comes on the heels of the fatal shooting of Renee Good earlier this month, and multiple other documented incidents of civil-rights abuses and excessive enforcement by ICE and CBP in Minnesota—demonstrating a pattern of misconduct that has fractured trust and terrified communities,” they said in the statement.
The Trump administration has vowed to carry out mass deportations of illegal immigrants and has said that many of the people being arrested and removed from the country are criminals with lengthy rap sheets, including convictions for child abuse, sexual assault, and other crimes.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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