Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Thom Tillis called Tuesday for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign following the Jan. 24 killing of Alex Pretti by border agents — making them the first GOP members of Congress to demand the Cabinet secretary step down.
“I think that what she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying,” Tillis (R-NC) told reporters on Capitol Hill. “She should be out of a job. I mean, really, it’s just amateurish. It’s making the president look bad on policies that he won on.
“He won on a strong message on immigration,” the North Carolinian went on. “And now nobody’s talking about that. They’re not talking about securing the border. They’re talking about the incompetence of the leader of homeland security.”
Murkowski (R-Alaska) initially said that it was “probably time for [Noem] to step down” before taking a firmer position in telling NBC News: “Yes, she should go.”
Murkowski, 68, and Tillis, 65, both voted to confirm Noem as DHS boss on Jan. 25 of last year, but neither have to worry about the immediate political fallout of breaking with the White House. Tillis has announced he will not seek re-election to a third Senate term this year, while Murkowski is not due to run again until 2028.
President Trump, meanwhile, has rejected demands by congressional Democrats that Noem be fired over her response to the shooting of Pretti, an ICU nurse who was protesting immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.
“I think she’s doing a very good job. The border is totally secure” he told reporters Tuesday, rejecting the suggestion that his dispatching border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to handle the fallout from the Pretti shooting was a vote of no confidence in Noem.
“I do that all the time. I shake up teams,” Trump said. “I don’t think it’s a pullback, it’s a little bit of a change.”
As Homan headed to the frozen north Monday night, Noem, the former South Dakota governor, and her top adviser Corey Lewandowski met with Trump for nearly two hours in the Oval Office.
When asked Tuesday if Noem would step down, the president gave a one-word answer: “No.”
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