At the Senate confirmation hearing for President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, faced questions from Democrats on Trump’s plans for mass deportations and whether she would attach political strings to California.
During Friday's hearing, Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., asked whether Noem or Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, would be calling the shots on border policy, with Kim noting that Homan is not subject to Senate confirmation.
“Who's going to be in charge of the border?" Kim asked. “If he is going to be making decisions, then he should come before this committee as well.”
Noem responded that Trump himself would ultimately be calling the shots.
"Well, the president will be in charge of the border. It's a national security issue and the president is in charge of this," Noem said. At the same time, she continued: "I obviously will be, if nominated and confirmed and put into the position of being the Department of Homeland Security secretary and responsible for the authorities that we have and the authorities that we have and the actions that we take."
Noem went on to refer to Homan, who has advocated mass deportations and high-profile immigration raids in Democratic cities, as an “incredible human being." She declined to clarify whether he would be directly issuing orders to institutions like Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
At the hearing, Noem was also asked whether there would be political bias when it comes to disaster relief, a reference to Trump’s threat to withhold aid from California and suggestions from Trump’s allies that aid should be provided in return for votes to raise the debt ceiling or changes to the the state’s climate policies.
Noem claimed that she would not allow political bias to impact her decisions when it comes to disaster relief.
“Under my leadership at the Department of Homeland Security, there will be no political bias to how disaster relief is delivered to the American people,” Noem said.
