Impeach Kristi Noem

It’s the only thing left for a civilized country to do.

On January 7, DHS officers killed Renee Good. On January 24, they killed Alex Pretti. In both cases, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem rushed to label the victims as domestic terrorists. In both cases, video footage contradicted her and showed instead that her DHS agents shot and killed American citizens exercising their constitutional rights. Americans across the political spectrum are watching, and we are deeply alarmed.

Noem’s ICE agents have been deployed in American cities with the nominal mission of identifying and removing undocumented immigrants who have committed violent crimes. Instead, Noem has greenlit a campaign of terror in which her officers have repeatedly enacted violence against Americans with impunity.

Renee Good was a 37-year-old mother. Noem alleged that Good tried to “ram [ICE officers] with her vehicle.” Video of the shooting showed Good turning her car away from the officer when he opened fire. An independent autopsy found that the fatal shot entered the left side of her head—through the driver’s side window—as she turned away. After the fatal shooting, the federal government shut out state investigators and blocked them from accessing evidence from the scene.

Alex Pretti was a 37-year-old intensive care nurse with no criminal record. Video shows him being fatally shot while pinned to the ground by multiple federal agents. Witnesses filed sworn statements in federal court that Pretti never brandished a weapon. State investigators arrived at the scene with a signed warrant from a judge allowing them access; DHS blocked them anyway. A federal judge has already issued an emergency order to prevent DHS from destroying evidence.

Real-time, bystander video footage is the only reason we know what actually happened in either killing. Noem’s rendering of events is completely, irresponsibly inconsistent with the evidence. We do not accept her fabrications.

We must be clear: This is not just the inevitable result of a bumbling, unskilled bureaucracy. This is a Cabinet secretary and her agency unleashing violence against Americans as they exercise their constitutional rights, and lying to cover it up.

The United States Congress must impeach Secretary Noem immediately. The violence she has authorized has been catastrophic; her lies have made clear that she believes her agents are above the law.

Noem has repeatedly proven herself unfit to serve. She must be swiftly impeached and held accountable to the law and to the American people.

Home of the Brave is an initiative dedicated to exposing this administration’s corruption, cruelty, and lawlessness.