WASHINGTON, DC - Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), used a Wednesday meeting with now-former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to set the stage for legislation he planned to mark up this week to crack down on sanctuary cities, according to a release from the Committee.
Noem, who was removed from her position by the president on Thursday and appointed special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, focusing on immigration and border security, faced sharp criticism from Committee Democrats, who pressed her over the shooting deaths of two Minneapolis anti-ICE agitators and alleged “systematic civil liberties abuses” by DHS.
Aside from the clear partisan divide at the dais, it also extended to the audience. Angel families were seated behind Noem, holding photographs of their dead loved ones killed at the hands of illegal aliens. Noem read the names of 20 victims into her opening statement, while Republican committee members invited the families to stand and be recognized.
Meanwhile, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), a far-left progressive, brought four individuals she claimed were U.S. citizens whom she alleged were “unlawfully” detained by ICE agents into the hearing room’s audience. She had them stand as she read their stories out loud. The four claimed they were detained for “legally” monitoring ICE activity.
Jordan, meanwhile, has been building up to proposing sanctuary legislation for weeks.
Jordan, speaking in a recent interview for Cleveland.com, said that sanctuary jurisdictions, consisting of 18 major cities, 11 states, and the District of Columbia, “just give law enforcement the finger” when ICE sends detainer notices requesting local jails hold individuals before releasing them.
The result has been that ICE agents must confront those who are released into the public instead of inside jails or courthouses, exposing ICE agents to violent agitators such as Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the two individuals killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis. Jordan said his proposed legislation will eliminate that practice.
Jordan asked Noem about the numbers at Wednesday’s hearing. She said ICE issued 201,340 detainers in 2025, with 17,864 being declined. Jordan asked Noem whether it was accurate that many of those individuals were released onto the streets of the U.S., to which Noem replied, "Yes."
“Is that the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard?” Jordan asked Noem.
“It is the dumbest,” she replied.
In her opening statement, Noem defended the DHS’s record. She said fentanyl trafficking at the southern border is down 56%, over 700,000 individuals have been detained and deported, over 2.2 million people have self-deported, and 1,500 known or suspected terrorists have been arrested.
“The reason that I do this job every single day is somebody has to do the right thing,” Noem said.
Democrats took turns attacking Noem, ICE, and the Department of Homeland Security, causing Noem to defend her agency by pointing to internal review processes and officers’ training.
“As the Secretary of Homeland Security, it’s my job to get up every day to be concerned for American citizens,” she said. “They are my priority.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) asked Noem about the use of body cameras, which Democrats have also pushed. Noem said that while the agency does have cameras deployed, the department doesn’t have adequate funding to maintain the systems, and asked Congress to address it.
In closing, Jordan highlighted the Sanctuary Shutdown Act of 2026.
“Help is on the way,” Jordan told Noem, “because we’re going to mark up legislation that will deal with this.”
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