DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Defends ICE

[ad_1] by Mary Spiller January 18, 2026

Kristi Noem claims brokers are following long-standing protocol as protests develop in Minnesota and constitutional considerations intensify nationwide.

Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem on Jan. 15 defended Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers amid mounting reviews that U.S. residents are being stopped and requested to confirm their citizenship throughout enforcement operations, together with incidents in Minnesota which have fueled protests and authorized considerations.

In keeping with the Day by day Beast, talking with reporters outdoors the White Home, Noem addressed questions following an ICE incident in Minneapolis the place tensions escalated after an officer shot a person within the leg throughout an encounter through which authorities say the person assaulted an agent. The episode has grow to be a flashpoint as demonstrations unfold throughout the state.

Requested why Individuals have been being required to show citizenship—and whether or not residents ought to carry documentation—Noem mentioned the actions have been a part of focused enforcement. “In each scenario, we're doing focused enforcement,” she mentioned. “If we're on a goal and doing an operation, there could also be people surrounding that prison that we could also be asking who they're and why they’re there and validate their identification.”

She added, “That’s what we’ve all the time achieved in asking individuals who they're in order that we all know who’s in these environment.”

Noem mentioned people who're discovered to be violating the regulation will be detained “till we’ve run that processing.” Her feedback got here as reviews have emerged not solely in Minnesota however throughout the nation alleging that federal brokers have detained U.S. residents throughout immigration actions.

In a single Minnesota incident, video circulated displaying ICE brokers forcefully detaining two staff at a Goal retailer. One employee will be heard stating he was a U.S. citizen as brokers pinned him to the bottom close to the shop entrance. A state lawmaker later confirmed each staff have been Americans.

Pressed on whether or not such actions violate the Fourth Modification, which protects towards unreasonable searches and seizures and requires possible trigger, Noem rejected the premise. “Each single motion that our ICE officers take is in accordance with the regulation and following protocols that we now have used for years,” she mentioned. “They're doing the whole lot appropriately.”

Nevertheless, as reported by NBC Los Angeles, Ahilan Arulanantham, a professor and co-director of UCLA College of Regulation’s Heart for Immigration Regulation and Coverage, said that this might not be the case.

Arulanantham said U.S. residents are legally required to supply proof of citizenship solely in restricted circumstances, akin to when coming into the nation from overseas or when making use of for particular jobs the place citizenship verification is remitted. Exterior of these conditions, he defined, residents usually haven't any obligation to provide documentation.

Arulanantham continued to clarify that if a regulation enforcement officer stops somebody in public with out affordable suspicion that the individual has dedicated against the law, that particular person just isn't required to point out identification.

The controversy coincided with President Donald Trump publicly threatening to invoke the Rebel Act to deploy U.S. troops to Minnesota, a transfer he floated on Fact Social as unrest continued. Noem confirmed she mentioned the choice with the president. Invoking the act, she mentioned, “was an choice he had sooner or later,” emphasizing that the choice finally rests with Trump.

Civil liberties advocates argue the incidents elevate severe constitutional questions, whereas the administration maintains brokers are working throughout the regulation. As protests proceed, scrutiny of federal enforcement practices—and the steadiness between public security and constitutional rights—exhibits no signal of easing.