U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who serves as Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a statement following the announcement that U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is scheduled to testify before the committee on March 3.
Durbin stated, “Secretary Noem refused to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year and now tells us that she will be available in five weeks—should she still be DHS Secretary at that time.
“With all of the violence and deaths involving DHS, the Secretary is apparently in no hurry to account for her mismanagement of this national crisis. And she expects us to rubber stamp her record-breaking budget in the meantime.”
Durbin has repeatedly called for Secretary Noem to testify before the committee and has encouraged Chairman Grassley to consider issuing a subpoena if she did not agree to appear. Durbin first requested Noem’s testimony in June, raising concerns about what he described as "the Department of Homeland Security’s escalating use of alarming immigration enforcement practices." During President Biden’s administration, then-Chair Durbin held a DHS oversight hearing just months after then-Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas took office.
