House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) promised that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem can expect to be one of the first officials made to answer for the Trump administration’s treatment of migrants during a recent podcast appearance.
Jeffries told The Bulwark‘s Tim Miller on Monday that judgment day will come after the 2026 elections.
“It’s my expectation that Kristi Noem will be one of the first people hauled up to Congress shortly after the gavels change hands to get a real understanding for the American people as to this conduct that has taken place. The lack of respect for due process, for the rule of law. The unleashing of masked agents on law-abiding immigrant communities, and the disappearing of people in some instances, to other countries without any real evidence that criminal behavior took place,” he said.
Jeffries said he’s all for deporting violent criminals and felons, “but not law-abiding immigrant families, including in some instances, U.S. citizen children who’ve been sent overseas to a place that they’ve never known.”
Jeffries added that “all of this is going to require aggressive oversight activity.”
If Noem’s former grilling by Democratic lawmakers is any indication, both sides are in for a fight.
In the spring, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) shamed Noem for incorrectly defining a basic tenant of U.S. constitutional protections.
“Habeas corpus is a constitutional right the president has to be able to remove people from this country,” Noem said, causing Hassan to fire back, “Excuse me, that’s incorrect…habeas corpus is the legal principal that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people. If not for that protection, the government could simply arrest people, including American citizens, and hold them indefinitely.”
“I also recognize that the president of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide if it should be suspended or not,” Noem said of habeas corpus.
“It has never been done without approval of Congress,” Hassan answered back. “Even Abraham Lincoln got retroactive approval from Congress.”
