U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle and Dwight Evans amplify calls to remove DHS Secretary Kristi Noem

Telling U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that “you need to resign” during a press conference on Thursday, U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle and Dwight Evans called for Noem’s removal, citing the at-times lethal violence that has increasingly come to characterize federal immigration enforcement. 

The Philadelphia Democrats, who represent the state’s Second and Third Congressional Districts, respectively, also urged Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators – Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dave McCormick – to join them in voting against new funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Later on Thursday, Fetterman did just that, despite having previously signaled he would not favor a government shutdown over spending. (After further negotiations on Thursday, the Senate announced that it had agreed on a spending plan that averted a shutdown. 

Pennsylvania’s seven Democratic members of Congress have been united in opposing advancing funding for DHS after two protesters – both of whom were American citizens – were fatally shot in recent weeks by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. 

There have been numerous calls for Noem’s ouster from Democrats and, after days of silence on the issue, Fetterman joined the chorus earlier this week, addressing a statement directly to President Donald Trump “to immediately fire Secretary Noem” for “betraying DHS’s core mission.”

“We should send a message that no Americans should be dying the way that they are, and it is unacceptable,” affirmed Evans, the most senior member of Pennsylvania’s Democratic delegation, in the press conference. “We can no longer continue to give Homeland Security a blank check,” added Boyle, the seniormost member of the commonwealth's Democratic delegation.

Criticism has been mounting for months against federal immigration agents’ aggressive and sometimes violent tactics. But calls for Noem’s ouster have gained momentum over the past week, after she defended agents involved in both recent shootings even before investigations into the shootings had been completed, laying out versions of events that have appeared to contradict video evidence.

“After both killings … Kristi Noem immediately – without knowing any of the real facts – ran in front of TV cameras to disparage and demonize the two victims,” said Boyle. He added that if she did not resign, President Trump should fire her: “I have no confidence whatsoever, if she is around, that there would be an open and honest investigation into exactly what happened.”