Kristi Noem was stunned by the furious questioning of Democrat Lauren Underwood when she grilled her in a Thursday hearing about Donald Trump‘s deportation programs.
Noem is Trump’s Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, in part challenged with keeping Americans safe at the border.
She has also been nicknamed ‘ICE Barbie’ for wearing a full face of makeup and hair extensions while on the job.
Lauren Underwood, an Illinois Democrat, questioned Noem at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing about her adherence to Trump’s choices on funding for programs.
Underwood asked: ‘Do you believe the administration has the authority to subvert appropriations law to freeze and terminate Congressional funding?’
After Noem attempted to answer the question, Underwood furiously asked it again, demanding an answer.
Noem said that DHS has ‘evaluated grants to make sure they’re being spent appropriately.’
Underwood became heated, stating that Congress retains the ‘power of the purse’ over funds and that the Trump administration was ignoring the courts on this matter.
Kristi Noem (pictured) was stunned by the furious questioning of Democrat Lauren Underwood when she grilled her in a Thursday hearing about Donald Trump ‘s deportation programs
Lauren Underwood (pictured), an Illinois Democrat, questioned Noem at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing about her adherence to Trump’s choices on funding for programs
She then asked if people were entitled to ‘due process under the law’ in cases of illegal migrants.
Noem tried to answer but Underwood angrily demanded a ‘yes or no’ before saying she was ‘reclaiming my time.’
Underwood tried to ask it again as a ‘yes or no’ and with Noem unwilling to boil it down to that, she stated: ‘I’ll take that as a no.’
She then asked if the government had the authority to deport American citizens, which Noem said they did not.
Underwood then accused Noem and the president of ‘deporting American citizens’ before saying that she was defending the president and her political party rather than the Constitution.
Noem went on the defense, however, accusing the Biden administration of refusing to track migrant crime.
‘The voices office opened under the Trump administration and President Biden posed to cover up exactly how many crimes against people in this country. We have reopened that office. We believe that that data would be helpful,’ Noem said.
She added that there are currently around 1.2 million orders to deport people but they have to work with other countries to get them to take the migrants back.
After Noem attempted to answer the question, Underwood furiously asked it again, demanding an answer
Underwood then accused Noem and the president of ‘deporting American citizens’ before saying that she was defending the president and her political party rather than the Constitution
‘There are some countries that are still refusing to take their own citizens, and I would reiterate that every single country has a responsibility to take our citizens back, and that has always been something that has been an international common-sense agreement that has existed,’ Noem said.
‘Many countries today, even as they are working with us, aren’t taking their citizens home very quickly. They may limit us to one or two planes a week. Mexico had a limitation on us for quite a period of time, even a limitation on what kind of aircraft we can use so working with those countries is a diplomatic job that consistently needs to be stayed on top of.’
Noem’s staredown with Underwood come as her photo-ops are reportedly irritating some of her staffers who are complaining that they’re getting in the way of operations.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday night on some of the complaints made about Noem, who has been nicknamed ‘ICE Barbie’ for wearing a full face of makeup and hair extensions while on the job.
Just days after Noem was sworn-in as Homeland Security Secretary she accompanied Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on a pre-dawn New York City raid.
‘Live this AM from NYC. I’m on it,’ she posted on X on January 28 at 4:43 a.m.
Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, sported an ICE baseball cap while getting in a car.
People familiar with the operation told The Journal that ICE’s operation was ongoing when Noem posted about it on social media, which undercut the element of surprise.
Noem’s staredown with Underwood come as her photo-ops are reportedly irritating some of her staffers who are complaining that they’re getting in the way of operations
While the New York raid went ahead, fewer arrests were made than officials hoped, sources told The Journal.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin pushed back and said the raid was nearly complete when Noem’s social media post went live.
Noem kicked off her tenure at DHS by holding a town hall event where her walk-on song was Trace Atkins’ Hot Mama.
Since then, photos of Noem have been hung up around the agency.
There’s Noem dressed in a cowboy hat and a Border Patrol jacket riding horseback as she accompanied a unit.
Another photo shows the secretary riding an ATV.
Inside the department, The Journal found, some staffers consider Noem more of a spokesperson than a traditional agency leader.
The perception is heightened by Noem’s nearly constant travel schedule, where D.C.-based staffers only see her a few hours a week.
That has ‘irritated many at DHS,’ The Journal reported.
Prior to The Journal’s report, several conservative women were already calling out Noem for playing dress-up on the job.
Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly blasted the DHS head after Noem held a gun incorrectly in a photo-op with ICE officers during a Phoenix, Arizona raid.
The Megyn Kelly Show host labeled Noem an ‘embarrassment’ who needed to stop her ‘ridiculous photo-ops.’
‘Just stop trying to glamorize the mission and put yourself in the middle of it as you cosplay ICE agent, which you’re not,’ Kelly said Wednesday. ‘I think they diminish ICE, DHS, CPB, she’s not an agent. She is an administrative policy person appointed by Trump because she was very loyal to him.’
Kelly claimed that Noem ‘looks like I look right now, but she’s out in the field with her gun,’ adding that she needs to ‘stop with the glam.’
‘No one wants you there. First of all, nobody ever wants the extra lady who doesn’t actually belong. They just don’t,’ Kelly said.
Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, also flamed Noem.
‘I don’t think that it is productive to have a full face of hair and makeup and hair extensions – and I used to wear 60 pounds of hair extensions – when you’re doing things like that,’ McCain said on her ‘Meghan McCain’s Happy Hour’ show.
McCain was also specifically critical of Noem pointing her gun at an ICE officer’s head, during the Phoenix photo-op.
‘I’m from Arizona and I’ve been shooting guns since I was a child… she literally could’ve blown that man’s head off, anybody with even a cursory knowledge of gun safety knows that,’ McCain said.
