Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina on Monday called for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be removed from office, saying her response to the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis protester was disqualifying and damaged the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.
Tillis, a Republican, became the first GOP senator to publicly call for Noem’s ouster following the death of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at a Minneapolis-area Veterans Affairs hospital who was shot multiple times by a Border Patrol agent during an immigration-related protest.
“What she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying. She should be out of a job,” Tillis said. “It’s just amateur-ish. It’s terrible. It’s making the president look bad on policy that he won on. ,President Trump, won on a strong message on immigration. Now, nobody’s talking about that. … They’re talking about the incompetence of the leader of the Homeland Security Department.”
Tillis criticized Noem for labeling Pretti a “domestic terrorist” shortly after the shooting, despite no public evidence supporting that claim.
“Those two people told the president before they even had an incident report whatsoever that the person who died was a terrorist. That is amateur hour at its worst,” Tillis said, referring to Noem and Stephen Miller, a senior White House aide.
Noem had claimed Pretti was brandishing a gun and attempting “to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.” Video footage later circulated showing Pretti holding a cellphone in one hand while his other hand was empty before he was pepper sprayed and pushed to the ground. The footage also shows an officer removing a firearm from Pretti’s beltline before two other officers fired roughly 10 shots as he knelt and then lay on the pavement.
“What sort of judgment is that for somebody who’s running a very consequential and important organization?” Tillis said.
He said he had communicated his concerns directly to President Trump and White House officials.
“I think she’s out of her depth, she’s proven that. She doesn’t know how to lead, how to de-escalate. She’s exposing ICE officers to dangerous situations, she’s exposing U.S. citizens to deadly situations,” Tillis said.
Tillis also criticized Gregory Bovino, the since-removed Border Patrol commander at large, saying he “needs to go back to California, get his retirement papers and go.”
“They got to de-escalate there and treat these communities with some respect,” he said.
The North Carolina senator has previously faulted Noem for declining to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and for her handling of hurricane relief efforts in his state following Hurricane Helene, which caused extensive flooding in Asheville and surrounding rural areas.
Tillis said he does not support impeaching Noem, calling her fate instead “a management decision.”
“She needs to go,” he said.
More than 160 House Democrats have signed on to articles of impeachment against Noem, an effort endorsed this week by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
