{"id":8837,"date":"2026-03-03T16:38:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T22:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/03\/tillis-more-republicans-unload-on-noem-over-minneapolis-operation-fema-delays\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T16:38:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T22:38:06","slug":"tillis-more-republicans-unload-on-noem-over-minneapolis-operation-fema-delays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/03\/tillis-more-republicans-unload-on-noem-over-minneapolis-operation-fema-delays\/","title":{"rendered":"Tillis, more Republicans unload on Noem over Minneapolis operation, FEMA delays"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"U.S.
\n

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, speaks as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee March 3, 2026. Tillis is among the lawmakers who have criticized Noem’s handling of immigration enforcement. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Republicans on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee mounted unusually blunt criticisms of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a tense five-hour hearing Tuesday, with North Carolina\u2019s Thom Tillis threatening to obstruct the chamber\u2019s business if Noem did not answer questions from his office about immigration enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tillis even revisited a book written by Noem in which she famously detailed shooting a pet dog as well as a goat, comparing her actions in that instance with drawing too-hasty conclusions in the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by immigration agents in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

The oversight hearing was Noem\u2019s first appearance on Capitol Hill since the months-long immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, during which agents of her department killed the two citizens and the surge was later scaled back amidst a national uproar.<\/p>\n

Tillis, a Republican who is retiring rather than seeking reelection this year, focused his critique on Noem\u2019s handling of immigration, while other GOP members raised separate concerns. At times, he raised his voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect exceptional leadership and you\u2019ve demonstrated anything but that,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen is a disaster under your leadership. What we\u2019ve seen is innocent people getting detained that turn out are American citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

He castigated Noem for not admitting her mistake in labeling Renee Good, a poet and mother of three, and Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse, as domestic terrorists. Good and Pretti both died in January from gunshots fired by federal immigration agents.<\/p>\n

Tillis called for Noem\u2019s resignation, and threatened that if she did not answer multiple questions submitted by his office, he would hold up\u00a0en bloc nominations<\/a> that come to the floor and\u00a0deny quorum in Senate committees<\/a>. Tillis\u2019 absence from committee markups could grind those panels\u2019 work to a halt, pausing nominations and party line bills.<\/p>\n

Democrats on the panel questioned Noem about the Minneapolis operation, racial profiling by immigration officers that has led to the arrests of U.S. citizens, and whether immigration agents will be at polling locations in the midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Noem largely stood by her decisions, and, when she was grilled by senators about the aggressive tactics by her immigration agent, she pivoted to the families behind her, known as angel families, who have had loved ones killed by an immigrant in the country without legal authorization.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese poor angel families behind me will never have their children again, that\u2019s one of my motivations every day,\u201d Noem said.<\/p>\n

Republicans John Kennedy of Louisiana and Josh Hawley of Missouri quizzed Noem on a $220 million advertising contract and the slow response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for reimbursements and disaster assistance.<\/p>\n

The dog and the goat<\/h4>\n

Tillis did not ask Noem any questions. Instead, for his full 10 minutes allocated for questions, he said he was giving her a \u201cperformance review,\u201d during which he expressed multiple frustrations.<\/p>\n

He criticized her handling of the operation in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that you can\u2019t admit to a mistake, which looks like, under investigation, is going to prove that Miss Good and Mr. Pretti probably should not have been shot in the face and in the back,\u201d Tillis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Pretti\u2019s death, President Donald Trump instructed Tom Homan, the White House border czar who reports directly to the president and operates outside of DHS\u2019 chain of command, to take over operations in Minneapolis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tillis told Noem that he read her book, in which she details how she shot and killed a\u00a014-month-old dog named Cricket<\/a> for bad behavior. She also revealed she killed a goat for similar reasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time and training, and then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it\u2019s a leadership lesson about tough choices,\u201d Tillis said.<\/p>\n

He also took issue with the goat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t castrate a goat, they behave badly,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Research indicates that neutering a goat can\u00a0lead to lower testosterone levels<\/a> and mellow out an aggressive goat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy point is, those are bad decisions made in the heat of the moment, not unlike what happened up in Minneapolis,\u201d he said, referring to how quick Noem was to label Pretti and Good as domestic terrorists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Slow FEMA relief<\/h4>\n

Tillis pointed to how a policy Noem started at FEMA, in which she must personally approve any contract that is more than $100,000, has led to delay in his state that is still reeling from Hurricane Helene in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what incompetent FEMA leadership looks like,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are hurting in western North Carolina from the most significant storm they\u2019ve ever experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillis said Noem had \u201cfailed at FEMA\u201d and that he believes she is violating the Homeland Security Act of 2002\u00a0 that he said \u201cexpressly prohibits the secretary of Homeland Security from restricting or diverting FEMA resources from the agency\u2019s mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawley also brought up an issue with FEMA.<\/p>\n

He said following multiple deadly tornadoes in his state, FEMA was helping fund debris removal. Local officials have estimated roughly 10,000 homes qualify for the removal aid, but \u201csome of the conditions that have been placed on the funds by FEMA mean that only (100) or 200 homes out of those 10,000 can actually get access to FEMA debris removal funds.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Noem said she would work with his office to address that issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Advertising contract<\/h4>\n

Kennedy questioned Noem about her decision to award a no-bid contract for her ad campaign that costs $220 million.\u00a0A ProPublica investigation<\/a> found that Noem awarded the contract to the husband of former DHS spokesperson\u00a0Tricia McLaughlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, we all have friends who are qualified, I\u2019m not quibbling with that,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cIt troubles me, \u2026 a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer money when we\u2019re scratching for every penny and we\u2019re fighting over rescission packages, I just can\u2019t agree with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noem said she was not involved in approving the contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018They should be alive today\u2019<\/h4>\n

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar slammed Noem for the aggressive immigration enforcement operation in her state.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo of my constituents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed,\u201d she said. \u201cThey should be alive today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klobuchar asked Noem how many federal immigration officers are still in Minneapolis. The Trump administration sent more than 2,000 agents, dwarfing the city\u2019s local police force that stands at roughly 600 officers.<\/p>\n

Noem said about 650 immigration agents are still in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Klobuchar told Noem that she spoke to the parents of Pretti.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I spoke to Alex\u2019s parents, they told me that you calling him a domestic terrorist\u2026 (was) one of the most hurtful things they could ever imagine was said by you about their son,\u201d Klobuchar said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She asked Noem if she wanted to apologize to Pretti\u2019s parents for calling him a domestic terrorist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not call him a domestic terrorist, I said it appeared to be an incident of domestic terrorism,\u201d Noem said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shutdown and Iran questions<\/h4>\n

Tuesday was day 17 of a partial shutdown of DHS. Senate Democrats forced the shutdown after the shootings of Good and Pretti.<\/p>\n

The department is also now dealing with additional cybersecurity and counterterrorism risks after President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on Iran.<\/p>\n

Though Congress has not passed a fiscal 2026 funding bill for DHS, the department has a separate funding stream, from the tax cuts and spending package Republicans passed last year, to continue immigration enforcement. Nearly all of the department is considered essential, so its employees are continuing to work, some without pay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the days following the Trump administration\u2019s decision\u00a0to launch an attack on Iran<\/a>, senators pressed Noem on what security preparations the agency is taking amid the shutdown.<\/p>\n

Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley of Iowa said he was concerned about potential terrorism due to the war in Iran. He asked Noem how she was vetting immigrants and intercepting potential acts of terrorism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Noem blamed the Biden administration for concerns of terrorism and said the agency was re-vetting all refugees and Afghan allies who fled to the U.S. after the Biden administration\u2019s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are re-vetting some of the individuals and some of the programs that we may have concerns about, looking at social media, also going through those interviews that are necessary for some of our programs that the Biden administration abused and perverted under their time,\u201d Noem said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Republican of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham asked Noem if she thought the threat level to the U.S. was up or down when it came to terrorism from Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Noem said it was up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Graham\u00a0has been vocal<\/a> in his push for the ousting of the current Iranian government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re engaged in military action against the mothership of terrorism, Iran, which I hope will sink pretty soon,\u201d Graham said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, the top Republican on the appropriations panel that funds DHS, asked Noem what the implications of her agency being shut down are.<\/p>\n

Britt raised concern about the shooting in Austin, Texas, over the weekend that is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re continuing to do that work and will every single day, but we need funding to make sure that all of our law enforcement agencies have the tools they (need) to bring them to justice,\u201d Noem said.<\/p>\n

Elections<\/h4>\n

Ahead of November\u2019s midterm elections, Democrats have raised concerns the administration would send immigration officers to polling locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Noem said Tuesday that elections were up to the states to run, but was evasive when asked to rule out sending DHS agents to monitor polling places.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sen. Chris Coons asked Noem if she would issue a directive telling ICE agents to not be at election sites.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Noem didn\u2019t answer the Delaware Democrat\u2019s question but asked, \u201cDo you plan on illegal aliens voting in our elections?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s already illegal for a noncitizen to vote in a federal election and has only rarely happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump is pushing for Congress to pass a law to require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, speaks as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee March 3, 2026. Tillis is among the lawmakers who have criticized Noem’s handling of immigration enforcement. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images) WASHINGTON \u2014 Republicans on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee mounted unusually blunt criticisms…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTillis, more Republicans unload on Noem over Minneapolis operation, FEMA delays - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/03\/tillis-more-republicans-unload-on-noem-over-minneapolis-operation-fema-delays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tillis, more Republicans unload on Noem over Minneapolis operation, FEMA delays - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"U.S. Sen. 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Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, speaks as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee March 3, 2026. Tillis is among the lawmakers who have criticized Noem’s handling of immigration enforcement. 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