Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem takes her seat before members of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Thursday to testify on the agency’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget. Two days earlier, Noem requested from the House $175 billion in funding. Photo by Ashley N. Soriano/Medill News Service
WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the Trump administration’s deportations Thursday as Democratic senators accused the president of illegally sending U.S. citizens and legal residents to other countries.
The confrontation over deportations took center stage as Noem testified before the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee about the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed $175 billion budget.
In a tense back-and-forth with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Noem said that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador in mid-March would “never return.”
Abrego Garcia, an El Salvadoran native, “should have never been in the U.S,” Noem said, calling him a “wife beater.”
Murphy accused Noem and the Trump administration of breaking the law and disregarding the Supreme Court‘s unanimous ruling ordering his return.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., also pressed Noem on whether the administration was facilitating Abrego Garcia’s return.
Though admitting the administration was “complying with all orders,” Noem would not answer yes or no on whether the government was working with El Salvador to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States.
Van Hollen called her response political rhetoric.
Noem insisted officials have targeted “the worst of the worst” criminals. Democrats said the administration has broken the law with its deportation of a 4-year-old with cancer; students on visas; and the 32 Venezuelans accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members.
Trump has invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act, a law permitting the removal of people from countries that are “enemies” of the United States. He argued that members of the Tren de Aragua gang constituted an enemy state.
The American Civil Liberties Union has battled in federal court using the Alien Enemies Act in this way.
Some Democratic lawmakers also expressed concern over the method and speed of reducing illegal border crossings and ramping up removals.
“You are routinely violating the rights of immigrants, who may not be citizens, but whether you like it or not, they have constitutional and statutory rights when they reside in the United States,” Murphy said to Noem.
“Your agency acts as if laws don’t matter, as if the election gave you some mandate to violate the Constitution and the laws passed by this Congress.”
Meanwhile, Noem credited the president’s focus on increased enforcement for the drop in illegal border crossings.
Customs and Border Protection agents encountered around 11,000 people attempting to illegally cross the southwest border in March, according to most recent data. That’s down from 189,000 in March 2024.
Republican lawmakers acknowledged their approval of DHS border enforcement.
DHS requested $175 billion to construct more miles of border wall, add Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and CBP agents, enhance cybersecurity, train local law enforcement and upgrade border technology such as mail package scanners.
Noem told UPI and Medill News Service after the hearing that she expected Congress to approve the requested budget.
“It’s one of the larger agencies with one of the smallest budgets,” Noem said. “We recognize that we’ve now let people into this country that are dangerous, and we not only need to return them back to their homes, but we also have to have the technology to compete in this day and age when so many other countries and bad actors have invested in taking us down.”
Noem is expected to face more questioning during another hearing next Wednesday.