'That is stonewalling': Thom Tillis calls out Kristi Noem's 'failure of leadership' during Senate hearing

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem came under fire from lawmakers on Tuesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, with Senator Thom Tillis calling for her resignation. The Republican Senator from North Carolina accused Noem of a "failure of leadership" following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents in January. Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed by an ICE officer on January 7, and Alex Pretti, 37, was shot dead by Customs and Border Protection officers on January 24. Both Good and Pretti were Minnesota residents. 

Tillis used his time for what he termed a "performance evaluation" rather than standard questioning, reproving Noem for her handling of the department and her past personal conduct. "Quality matters, not quantity! What we've seen is a disaster under your leadership, Ms. Noem! A disaster!" Tillis said during the hearing. "What we've seen is innocent people being detained that turn out are American citizens! The fact that you can't admit to a mistake which looks like, under investigation, is gonna prove that Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti probably should not have been shot in the face and in the back!" he added. Tillis also accused Noem of stonewalling oversight, citing a letter from the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) that allegedly documented 10 instances where the agency was misled and not allowed to pursue investigations. "That is stonewalling, that's a failure of leadership, and that is why I've called for your resignation," Tillis said. 

Questioning Noem's leadership, Tillis referenced an anecdote from her 2024 book where she described killing a dog and a goat. "I train dogs, alright? You are a farmer. You should know better. You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time in training, and then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it's a leadership lesson about tough choices," Tillis said, adding, "My point is, those are bad decisions made in the heat of the moment. Not unlike what happened up in Minneapolis."

During the course of the hearing, several U.S. lawmakers, including Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, sought Noem's apology for accusing Pretti and Good of "domestic terrorism". They also sought Noem's resignation, opining that she should be impeached. "You should step down from your position," Senator Cory Brooker said. "If you don't, you should be removed by this president, and if not, Congress should impeach you."   

Noem, however, refused to retract her previous labels of Good and Pretti, and instead accused Democrats of "trying to impede us from enforcing the law and getting dangerous criminals off of our streets." When asked if she had anything she wanted to say to Alex Pretti's parents, Noem replied, "We were relying, in the hours after that incident that was so horrific, on information we were getting from the ground, from our agents." She added, "When we have these situations happen, we always offer our condolences to those families, and I offer mine as well. These are tragic situations, and I can't imagine what these families go through in losing a loved one."

The hearing concluded with the Department of Homeland Security still mired in a partial government shutdown, as the budget impasse over the administration's aggressive immigration tactics shows no signs of thawing. Congressional leadership remains deadlocked over funding for the "Operation Northern Guard" initiative, which critics argue led to the Minneapolis tragedies.