Illinois Democratic Rep. Robin Kelly filed three articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday. The move was supported by 70 House Democrats, while the DHS qualified the filings as “silly.” A majority vote in both the House and the Senate would be required in order to remove Noem from office.
Democrats backed three articles of impeachment against Kristi Noem
Rep. Robin Kelly introduced three articles of impeachment against Noem on Wednesday. The first accuses Noem of obstruction for denying Congress members access to ICE facilities, CBS News reported. The second article alleges she violated public trust by sending ICE agents to arrest people without warrants and directing tear gas against citizens. The third article accuses Noem of abusing her power by bypassing the contract process to fund a $200 million ad campaign to recruit ICE agents and giving the contract to a company run by a friend of hers.
“Secretary Noem has brought her reign of terror to the Chicagoland area, LA, New Orleans, Charlotte, Durham and communities east, north, to south to east to west,” Kelly said during a press conference on Wednesday, per The Guardian. “She needs to be held accountable for her actions.”
Kelly said 70 House Democrats co-sponsored his impeachment effort. The Congresswoman had announced her bid to impeach Noem after the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Kelly called the incident a “murder” in an interview with CBS News.
“We just can’t sit back, we just can’t sit on the sidelines,” she said, according to CBS News.
DHS called the bid to impeach Kristi Noem ‘silly’
DHS responded to Democrats’ bid to impeach Noem saying in a statement, “How silly during a serious time.”
“As ICE officers are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them, Rep. Kelly is more focused on showmanship and fundraising clicks than actually cleaning up her crime-ridden Chicago district,” a DHS spokesperson said, The Guardian and CBS News reported. “We hope she would get serious about doing her job to protect American people, which is what this Department is doing under Secretary Noem.”
Kelly called out DHS’s criticism and doubled down on the need to impeach Noem: “Secretary Noem has called my impeachment effort ‘silly.’ I want to tell her right now: Secretary Noem, you have violated your oath of office and there will be consequences,” she said on Wednesday, per CBS News. “I am watching you. Members of Congress are watching you. The American people are watching you. And most of all, we are not liking what we are seeing. If you believe impeachment is ‘silly,’ then you are not taking your job or our Constitution seriously.”
It is unlikely that Noem will be impeached, as Republicans currently control both the House and the Senate. Impeachment requires a majority vote in the House and a two-thirds majority in the Senate in order to remove an official from office.