Noem defies calls to resign, touts border victory as shutdowns and riots swirl

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Division of Homeland Safety Sec. Kristi Noem has been a lightning rod for criticism amid anti-ICE riots which have rocked the nation, sparked a authorities shutdown and left many questioning whether or not the nation’s eighth DHS secretary would preserve her job.

Regardless of the mounting strain, Noem appeared calm, collected, and assured throughout a visit this week that included a cease in Mississippi to evaluate winter storm injury restoration efforts, visits to the southern border in Texas and Arizona in addition to the northern border in North Dakota, and a BBQ dinner hosted and served by Noem herself to Border Patrol brokers in Arizona.

Throughout the first half of the four-day stint, Congress was nonetheless coping with a partial authorities shutdown largely over fund DHS. The Home finally reached an settlement, funding the company by means of Feb. 13, however Noem's focus remained the identical earlier than and after the invoice handed, and her schedule was left unchanged.

Sec. Kristi Noem speaks at a press convention alongside the border wall in Nogales, AZ on Feb. 4. (DHS picture by Mikaela McGee)

Throughout an unique interview alongside the border wall in Nogales, Ariz., Noem advised Fox Information Digital that the national security functions of the company are too important to be sidelined by a spending combat.

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"On daily basis [DHS is] discovering terrorists and eradicating them from our nation, defending our cybersecurity programs, our vital infrastructure," Noem advised Fox. "Solely 11% of the DHS funds is ICE. The remainder of it's FEMA, TSA, that runs our safety checkpoints at our airports."

"Additionally it is the Coast Guard, which is totally vital to our maritime safety and in addition partnering with the Division of Battle," Noem added. "We've got weapons of mass destruction, science and know-how, our nationwide labs."

"We've got a variety of obligations that we completely have to fund with the intention to do them correctly. So I am hopeful that Congress will acknowledge that and cross this invoice shortly," Noem stated.

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However the debate round authorities spending wasn’t concerning the Coast Guard, FEMA or TSA. It was virtually solely based mostly on one of many 23 companies which Noem oversees – Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Particularly, it centered round ICE's actions in Minneapolis, a so-called sanctuary metropolis by which the native authorities present solely minimal help to federal officers implementing immigration legal guidelines.

Federal legislation enforcement brokers detain a demonstrator throughout a raid in south Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Minnesota officers are suing over the unprecedented surge of US immigration authorities within the state, taking the Trump administration to court docket days after a federal agent shot and killed a Minneapolis lady. (Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos)

For the reason that starting of the yr, DHS estimates that Operation Metro Surge has resulted within the apprehension of 4,000 prison illegal migrants in Minneapolis. The operation was launched primarily as a consequence of a fraud scheme that concerned members of the Somali group in Minnesota.

The mission then developed right into a heated conflict between agitators and federal officers that finally left two U.S. residents useless, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, each killed by federal immigration agents .

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Noem shortly labeled each Good and Pretti as "home terrorists" and stated their deaths had been as a consequence of impeding "legislation enforcement operations," sparking outrage from Democrats and a few Republicans who started to call for her resignation .

Rumors swirled whether or not Noem would truly resign or if President Donald Trump would fireplace fireplace her, however the president advised reporters shortly after the loss of life of Pretti that he had no intention of relieving her from her place as head of DHS.

When Fox Information Digital requested Noem what she believed the American individuals need relating to ICE implementing the legislation utilizing the identical ways that led to riots, deaths and assaults on each agitators and brokers, Noem stated "I believe individuals would need much less battle."

President Donald Trump has repeatedly backed DHS chief Noem in public feedback in January. (Jim Watson/Getty Photos)

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"[The American people] wish to know that we're implementing our legal guidelines and that we're going after harmful criminals, and so they don't desire them to be launched on the streets to perpetuate extra crimes," Noem defined.

At some stops alongside Noem’s journey, agitators appeared. At a dinner she hosted inside a resort in Tucson, Arizona, for CBP officers, protesters with drums, megaphones and seemingly pre-made indicators gathered on the entrance of the resort. Each different automotive driving by the demonstration honked, although it’s unclear whether or not they had been honking in help or in disagreement with the protesters.

A Quinnipiac College survey taken from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2 confirmed 58% of these questioned saying that Noem shouldn’t have the job .

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Fox Information Digital spoke with a GOP insider who pointed to Noem’s inexperience on the nationwide stage, saying her time as governor of South Dakota didn’t put together her for one of the vital difficult roles within the presidential cupboard.

Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem meets with CBP officers at Eagle Move, Texas, Tuesday, February 3, 2026. Noem assesses the progress been made since she turned head of the company a yr in the past. (Kat Ramirez for Fox Information Digital)

Regardless of the critics, Noem’s file on securing the border has confirmed profitable, in line with figures offered by the division and the Trump administration. Trump’s purpose to discourage unlawful migrants from crossing the border, which was Noem’s mandate, has been a precedence for the White Home.

Extra unlawful migrants crossed the southern border in a single common month below former President Biden’s watch than have crossed below Noem’s complete watch, in line with DHS.

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"We've got over three million people who have deported, and that features most likely about 700,000 that we've got detained and eliminated," Noem advised Fox Information Digital on Wednesday. "Past that, over 2.3 million have self-deported."

"You already know, you ship the message around the globe that America is now going to be implementing its legal guidelines and ensuring that if you happen to're on this nation illegally, that you must go residence, and we have been incentivizing that by means of a $2,600 cost and a flight," Noem added. "Hundreds of thousands of individuals have taken us up on that."

Trump defended Noem for a second time throughout remarks on the Nationwide Prayer Breakfast on Thursday when discussing if he would relinquish her command at DHS.

Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem (not pictured) shows a momtage of pictures exhibiting the unlawful border crossing a yr in the past as she meets with CBP officers at Eagle Move, Texas, Tuesday, February 3, 2026. Noem assesses the progress been made since she turned head of the company a yr in the past. (Kat Ramirez for Fox Information Digital)

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"Why would I do this? We've got the strongest border within the historical past of our nation," Trump stated. "We've got the very best crime numbers we have ever had going again to the yr 1900. That is 125 years. We've got the bottom crime numbers."

Trump additionally appointed Tom Homan, the previous ICE director throughout Trump’s first time period and the manager affiliate director of Enforcement and Removing Operations below President Barack Obama, to function border czar, a task beforehand held by Kamala Harris.

Some stories painted an image of an unstated rivalry between Homan and Noem following Trump’s resolution to place Homan accountable for the state of affairs in Minneapolis.

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However Noem advised Fox Information Digital she credited Homan for working to get native leaders in Minneapolis to return to the desk and negotiate order in what has been a chaotic scene within the Twin Cities.

Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem speaks throughout a roundtable within the State Eating Room of the White Home on Wednesday Oct. 8, 2025. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Publish by way of Getty Photos)

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"What individuals want to recollect is that Democrat insurance policies had been destroying our nation," Noem stated. "And President Trump got here in and stated, I'll shield the American individuals. It isn't going to occur anymore. "

"Since [the Biden administration], hundreds of individuals's lives have been saved simply right here, excellent right here on the border, as a result of these migrants usually are not victimized anymore," Noem added.