U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Illinois), who has led impeachment efforts against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, released the following statement after President Donald Trump announced Thursday, March 5, that Noem would be leaving DHS.
“Good riddance, Kristi Noem.
“President Trump fired Kristi Noem because he knew Congress was going to remove her. My impeachment efforts against Noem gained momentum every time she opened her mouth and terrorized our country. She was an incompetent leader who enriched her friends and unleashed her Gestapo agents with no regard for the law or human life. It’s time for her to go home and never enter public service — or adopt a dog — again.”
The reference to adopting a dog is in response to an incident Noem recounted in her book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” in which she shot her dog, Cricket, for being disobedient.
Kelly introduced H.Res.996, Impeaching Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, for high crimes and misdemeanors. The impeachment articles had 70 cosponsors when she announced its filing on Jan. 14. By early March it had attracted 187 cosponsors, representing more than three quarters of the House Democratic Caucus.
Noem led DHS during the agency’s controversial immigration enforcement operations that began in June 2025 in Los Angeles and eventually spread to a number of other cities, including Chicago and Minneapolis. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers were filmed making numerous violent arrests and using lethal and less-lethal weapons against protesters and observers.
The American Prospect maintains a list of people injured or killed in immigration operations, plus people who have died in custody.
Noem was charged with implementing immigration enforcement polices Trump campaigned on before being elected to his second term.
During testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this week, Noem was criticized by Democrats and by several Republican senators for the methods used in immigration enforcement and for what some considered lavish spending on ad campaigns.
