Commentary: Kristi Noem should be removed from office before she can do more harm

Raul A. Reyes, Los Angeles Times on Jan 26, 2026

Published in Op Eds

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In the wake of the fatal shooting of a Minnesota mother by an immigration agent this month, House Democrats have filed articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

These lawmakers are on the right track, but they need not have waited so long. Throughout her year at the Department of Homeland Security, Noem has shown disregard for judicial and congressional authority, and she has misled the American people. Her leadership is endangering the country. She should be removed from office before she can do more of the same and worse.

As secretary, Noem has displayed a troubling pattern of unethical behavior. Her infamous photo op last March, posing in front of detainees in El Salvador’s CECOT prison, was not just grotesque; it may have violated Geneva Convention provisions against the public exploitation of prisoners.

In October, Noem ordered a video blaming Democrats for the government shutdown to be played at airports nationwide. This was in direct conflict with the Hatch Act, which restricts federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity.

In November, the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica reported that a company tied to Noem got money from $220 million Homeland Security ad contracts in a secret, no-bid process.

None of these instances reflect sound judgment by the person charged with keeping our country safe.

Noem does not seem to respect the judicial branch. She defied a federal judge by not turning around deportation flights to El Salvador last March. Her agents in Chicago have used chemical sprays on protesters multiple times despite a court order forbidding them from doing so. Speaking on“Meet the Press” in November, Noem said, “We’ll continue to do the right thing, continue to work and protect Americans, no matter what radical judge comes out and tries to stop us.” These actions, coupled with her own words, reveal an unacceptable disdain for our constitutional system of checks and balances.

Under Noem, officials from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have flouted congressional authority. Members of Congress have for months been denied their lawful right to inspect detention facilities in Minnesota, New Jersey, Florida and California. Such oversight is critical to protecting the well-being of detainees, especially because the department gutted its own watchdog agencies.

Noem has also made false or misleading statements to Congress, the press and the public. She made so many derogatory remarks about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man deported by mistake to El Salvador, that a federal judge rebuked her for inflammatory comments. Noem has often declared that ICE does not detain or deport U.S. citizens, even though it does. ProPublica has, in fact, documented more than 170 cases of Americans detained by immigration agents. And although Noem likes to repeat that ICE agents are going after “the worst of the worst,” internal agency data show that they have arrested nearly 75,000 people with no criminal records.

When summoned before a congressional committee in December, Noem struck a defiant tone. “I will consider your asking me to resign as an endorsement of my work,” she told one lawmaker. However, this was before the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. Now the public appears to have lost confidence in Noem, whose job approval recently slipped to 36%.

True, Noem was appointed by President Donald Trump to execute his aggressive immigration enforcement agenda. Anyone else put in the role would probably also have carried out these policies.

It is how Noem has carried out her responsibilities that demonstrates unfitness for her job — not only pursuing the president’s agenda but also racking up a body count, defying the law and lying.

She is also failing at the most basic functions of her role. Consider that, under her leadership, FEMA has been widely faulted for responding too slowly to natural disasters in Texas and North Carolina. Or that Noem has allowed department social media accounts to feature white nationalist memes and questionable messaging, including recruitment posts saying, “Want to deport illegals with your absolute boys?”

Noem’s tenure has already had grave consequences. Thirty-two people died in ICE custody in 2025, making it the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades. During Trump’s second term, immigration agents have shot at people at least 16 times.

Americans need a Homeland Security secretary who will follow the law, respect Congress and tell the truth to the public. Kristi Noem is not that person. Under her, the department is harming citizens, not protecting them. Lawmakers should press her impeachment forward and remove her from office — unless she has the decency to resign first.

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Raul A. Reyes is an immigration attorney and television commentator in New York City. X:@RaulAReyes Instagram:@raulareyes1