'Kristi Noem needs to go,' says Gov. McKee
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee on Wednesday added his voice to those calling on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to step down.
"Kristi Noem needs to go," McKee, a Democrat, said in a short statement.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling for Noem to step aside after the shooting deaths in Minneapolis of two people who protested deportation policy.
"When government officials take an oath of office, they swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic," McKee said. "Nearly 12 months to the day of taking that Oath of Office, Kristi Noem is treating the Americans she has sworn to protect as enemies."
What started as sharp criticism of the Homeland Security secretary, and a longshot move by Democratic lawmakers signing onto impeachment legislation in the Republican-controlled House, has morphed into an inflection point for Noem, who has been the high-profile face of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement regime.
Noem's brash leadership style and remarks in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good — in which she suggested Pretti “attacked” officers and portrayed the events leading up to Good's shooting an “act of domestic terrorism” — have been seen as doing irreparable damage, as events on the ground disputed her account. Her alliance with Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, who was recalled from the Minnesota operation Monday as border czar Tom Homan took the lead, has left her isolated on Capitol Hill.
“What she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying. She should be out of a job," said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
“I think the President needs to look at who he has in place as a secretary of Homeland Security," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. "It probably is time for her to step down.”
President Donald Trump has defended Noem and indicated that her job does not appear to be in immediate jeopardy.
"Free speech is not a threat to the Constitution; it is a basic building block of our democracy. Yet, under Kristi Noem, ICE is treating peaceful protesters as combatants, using reckless—and sometimes fatal—tactics. How long must the list of victims grow before our own government stops terrorizing its citizens?" McKee said.
Rhode Island Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos called for Neom's dismissal and the dismantling of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Trump should immediately end Operation Metro Surge, which has been an unmitigated failure, and fire Secretary Kristi Noem. I believe, following what we have seen in Minneapolis, that we should abolish ICE as a federal agency.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
