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By Shane Croucher
Senior Editor
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Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman urged President Donald Trump to fire Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after the killings of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents, warning the Republican not to repeat the "same mistake" of his predecessor, Joe Biden.
“President Trump: I make a direct appeal to immediately fire Secretary Noem," said Fetterman, who has praised Trump previously despite their party differences, in a statement on Tuesday.
“Americans have died. She is betraying DHS’s core mission and trashing your border security legacy. DO NOT make the mistake President Biden made for not firing a grossly incompetent DHS Secretary.”
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Trump has criticized the previous Biden administration and then DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allowing numerous illegal immigrants to cross the U.S. border on their watch and for not enforcing the law through mass deportations. Fetterman has echoed criticisms of the Democratic Biden administration's handling of the border.
There has been mounting pressure on Noem over her handling of the large-scale surge of federal immigration agents into Minnesota in the wake of the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, which have sparked protests and bipartisan concern, particularly the former's fatal shooting by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on January 24.
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Polling suggests public faith in DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Noem is falling fast, an ominous sign for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, in which they are fighting to keep their majorities in the House and Senate. The success of the second half of Trump's term—and so achieving his priorities, such as the hard-line immigration crackdown—is at stake.
Trump has now sent his border czar Tom Homan into Minneapolis to manage ICE operations on the ground there, and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino has been pulled from the city, though DHS denied that he had been relieved of his duties.
Homan will report back directly to Trump rather than Noem. But the White House has said it still has confidence in Noem's leadership of DHS, and she has publicly welcomed the deployment of Homan to Minneapolis.
"Mr. Homan is doing an exceptional job and he has been working with Secretary Noem and President Trump over the course of the last year," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing on Monday.
"Secretary Noem still has the utmost confidence and trust of the president of the United States, and she is continuing to oversee the entire Department of Homeland Security and all of the immigration enforcement that's taking place across the whole entire country."
House Democrats are mounting an effort to impeach Noem. A resolution on her impeachment has so far gathered 140 co-sponsors. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are refusing to vote for a DHS funding bill in a standoff over money for immigration enforcement following the deadly events in Minneapolis, threatening a partial federal government shutdown.
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