Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified for nearly five hours today before the Senate Judiciary Committee. While it grew tiring to hear many Republicans offer Noem glowing congratulations for what they framed as her role in fixing Joe Biden’s "shameful" immigration policy, I was struck by a couple of Republicans who criticized her—namely, Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Kennedy of Louisiana.
For Tillis, it was Noem’s refusal to acknowledge fault and call for independent investigations into DHS’s wrongdoing in Minnesota, including the killing of two US citizens, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, that earned her a lengthy tirade.
And to Kennedy, the use of more than $200 million in taxpayer funds to pay for DHS ads starring Noem was egregious, especially given the majority of the money went to a company run by someone who worked on Noem's ads during her time in Congress and as governor of South Dakota.
While Noem and her DHS are yet to face any substantive accountability, they are starting to lose those who, at least on paper, should be staunch allies.
You can check out my write-up of the hearing here.
—Alex Nguyen
