Kristi Noem Torched for 'Playing Dress-Up' While Deporting Children

Yahoo

14-05-2025

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem got slammed by a Democratic lawmaker Wednesday for 'playing dress-up' while breaking immigration laws to conduct Donald Trump's deportations.
During a hearing before the House Committee on Homeland Security, Rhode Island Representative Seth Magaziner took Noem to task for removing U.S. citizens and documented immigrants as part of the Trump administration's sweeping deportation efforts.
'During your confirmation hearing, you said that your focus would be on deporting immigrants who have been convicted of crimes, and those who have received removal orders. But that is not what you have been doing,' Magaziner said. 'Instead you have been deporting children with cancer, children who are U.S. citizens, a gay makeup artist who committed no crime and didn't even enter the country illegally.
'You have been sloppy; your department has been sloppy. And instead of focusing on real criminals, you have allowed innocent children to be deported while you fly around the country playing dress-up for the cameras,' Magaziner continued.
'Instead of enforcing the laws, you have repeatedly broken them. You need to change course immediately, before more innocent people are hurt on your watch.'
Magaziner was referring to a mother in Louisiana who was deported to Honduras in April alongside her 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, the latter of whom had been diagnosed with cancer. Attorneys for that woman and another mother who was removed with her 2-year-old have contended that their clients did not wish for their children to be removed from the United States.
Earlier in his questioning, Magaziner asked Noem to explain why Immigration and Customs Enforcement had removed the 4-year-old diagnosed with cancer, despite the mother's wishes. 'What evidence do you have to support your claim that she did consent?' Magaziner asked.
Noem, who has denied that the Trump administration has removed any U.S. citizens (it has deported at least 12) insisted that DHS had followed protocol, but failed to provide proof. 'We will get that to you, sir, I don't have it with me,' Noem said.
'Please do. I understand, it's hard to keep them all straight because you've deported multiple U.S. citizen children, but I'm asking specifically about the 4-year-old with cancer who was deported on April 25,' Magaziner said.
'For the record, that family was also not given access to legal counsel before they were deported, even though their lawyer was in the same building at the time,' Magaziner noted.
Magaziner referred to ICE's directive on detained parents, which states that 'parents and legal guardians should have the ability to make alternative care arrangements prior to their arrest or detention.'
'ICE must afford parents the opportunity to consult with legal counsel,' Magaziner said.
'So, did the ICE agents working on this case, who deported this 4-year-old with cancer, of their own volition fail to follow ICE policies, or were they directed to by your office or anyone else in DHS leadership?' the Rhode Island Democrat asked.
'Sir, this mother chose to keep her child with her—' Noem began to answer before she was interrupted.
'You have not produced any evidence to say so, but I'm asking again, have you directed—have you directed DHS officers to ignore this policy?' Magaziner said.
Noem claimed that the Trump administration was attempting to keep families together, unlike the previous administration, which separated families 'over and over.' The Biden administration repeatedly separated families at the border, including roughly 300 children in 2024 and another 300 in 2023. Over the course of the first Trump administration, immigration authorities separated more than 4,000 migrant children from their families.