Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) confronted Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem at a House Homeland Security Committee oversight hearing today, the first time the two have come face-to-face since McIver was charged with assaulting an ICE officer in the spring.
McIver, who has said the charges against her are politically motivated, used the hearing to accuse Noem of avoiding congressional oversight, and referenced her own treatment at the hands of ICE officers during her May 9 oversight visit at the Delaney Hall immigrant detention center. (McIver and DHS each claim that the other was the aggressor in the scuffle; the charges have not yet gone to trial.)
“The truth is, you are deeply unqualified for the post you hold,” McIver told Noem. “This is on full display in the way you treat the people in this body, myself included, who have been elected to serve our communities and keep them safe: Representative [Adelita] Grijalva, Senator [Alex] Padilla, myself, and others whose character and integrity and bodies were attacked by your department without evidence and without apology.”
The two proceeded to get into a bitter back-and-forth, one that has since gotten hundreds of thousands of views online.
“Do you agree that using DHS resources to target members of Congress is an abuse of power?” McIver asked.
“Excuse me, would you say that again?” Noem responded; Noem had continued answering a prior question during McIver’s question.
“You would have heard me if you stopped talking and listened to my questions,” McIver said.
“If you would stop talking crazy and making stuff up,” Noem shot back.
McIver proceeded to ask her question again, to which Noem responded, “We are not doing that. We are out there enforcing the law, doing our work, and we are allowing oversight.”
The harsh exchange was very different from McIver’s questioning at a May 14 hearing, which happened to land in between McIver’s May 9 oversight visit and the May 19 announcement of charges against her. At that hearing, McIver criticized Noem, but focused on entirely separate issues related to student visas and the TSA.
Noem, for her part, has made no secret of her feelings for McIver, saying in interviews that what the congresswoman had done during the Delaney Hall fracas was “horrible” and a felony. The DHS has been repeatedly directed by the judge overseeing McIver’s case to take down statements and social media posts disparaging McIver, but some remain publicly available, including one from Noem’s own X account.
