WASHINGTON — Five days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, seven Senate Democrats voted to confirm Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Nearly five months later, most of them are critical of her, with some going as far as to say they regret their votes.
“I’m very disappointed. I’m very disappointed in her,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told NBC News this week. “If I were voting on her today, I definitely wouldn’t vote for her.”
Freshman Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., also said he would vote differently and oppose her nomination if he could do it again.
“She’s weaponizing the Department of Homeland Security. She is taking so many actions right now that are making us less safe and going against a lot of the things that she said that she was going to focus on,” Kim said Wednesday. “So I have no confidence in her leadership right now.”
The five other Democrats who voted to confirm Noem were Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters, both of Michigan; Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, both of New Hampshire; and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. The vote on Jan. 25 was 59-34, with Republicans unanimously voting for Noem. Seven senators, six of whom caucus with the Democrats, missed the vote.
At the time, several Democrats were struggling to find their way forward on the issue of immigration enforcement, which is largely run by DHS, following Trump’s election victory.
Now, the mood has changed in the wake of the administration’s aggressive deportation agenda and moves to target green card holders and international students. On top of that, Democrats expressed outrage after Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was forcibly removed from a DHS news conference last week when he tried to ask Noem a question.
Slotkin said she voted for Noem because Michigan has “major equities with the Department of Homeland Security” as a border state that is “about to open up a huge new bridge” to Canada.
But while Slotkin stopped short of saying she’d switch her vote, she was critical of Noem’s performance.
“She has, frankly, not been in much control of policy. I see her more as a bystander, often, to policy — especially what’s going on right now,” Slotkin said. “And you know, we’ve been urging our committee to take more accountability on her.”
Peters, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, which oversees DHS, said he’s “not surprised” by Noem’s actions and disagrees with many of them.
Asked whether he stands by his vote to confirm her, Peters said, “I’m the ranking member on the committee, and I have to have a working relationship with the secretary, regardless of the positions that they take.”
“And so far we’ve, we’ve been able to have that,” he said.
Fetterman — who has broken with his party on some issues, including immigration — didn’t comment when he was asked whether he stands by his vote for Noem or how he rates her performance.
The two New Hampshire senators criticized Noem in statements provided by their offices without saying whether they stand by their votes.
“Senator Hassan has serious concerns about some of the Department of Homeland Security’s recent actions and continues to press for more answers and oversight — including into Senator Padilla’s treatment last week,” Hassan spokesperson Sahil Mehrotra said.
And Shaheen spokesperson Brendan Duff said: “Senator Shaheen has been disappointed by the Secretary’s tenure heading the Department of Homeland Security and remains concerned by her leadership of the agency thus far, including her severe lack of transparency. She intends to continue demanding answers and holding the Department accountable.”
A DHS spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who voted against Noem, tore into her performance.
“It’s really hard to imagine someone doing a worse job as the secretary of homeland security,” Schiff said in an interview. “The draconian, inconsistent, inflammatory immigration policies; the lawlessness; the rendering of people outside the country to maximum-security prisons; the arrest of U.S. citizens; the constant, bizarre spectacle of her doing dress-up outside of a maximum-security prison; or in her various cosplay. It’s embarrassing, and it takes the focus off of what should be the heart of that job, and that is protecting our homeland security.”
