Slotkin calls for Noem to step down, DHS funding to be halted without ICE reform

In a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday night, U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin called for the resignation, firing or impeachment of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in the wake of the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday.

“There need to be consequences for this kind of anti-American behavior, and that starts with leadership,” the Holly Democrat said.

“She should resign. If she doesn’t resign, the president should do what he’s done in the past and fire her. And if she doesn’t get fired, she should be impeached,” Slotkin said. “Because while she’s not the only one who is the brains behind these operations, she was the one who got the big job. 
She was the one who sat in front of many of us for Senate confirmation. And she has done nothing to defend the values that she claimed to hold her hand up and swear to protect.”

“We need the people who are the masterminds of these policies to leave their jobs,” she continued, adding that she believes Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller should similarly be removed from his position.

Slotkin added that, as one of the seven Democrats who voted to confirm Noem in January 2025, she does not regret attempting to have a relationship with the secretary, especially representing a state with multiple key border crossings into Canada. 

“But she has proved over and over again, up till this weekend, that she does not deserve the title of Cabinet Secretary,” she said.

Slotkin also reiterated calls to separate a Department of Homeland Security funding bill from five other appropriations bills that Congress must pass by Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown — a call that many Senate Democrats have also made in an attempt to limit the extent of the government funding lapse, while preventing further funding for ICE.

“We cannot trust this administration to handle the deployment of federal forces in our streets without making some fundamental reforms on the Department of Homeland Security,” she said. “We need accountability for the people who are behind this. We also need fundamental reforms of ICE.”

The killings of Pretti and, just weeks before, Renee Good, by federal law enforcement agents sparked massive backlash from both elected officials and the general public. 

“The deaths that we saw in Minneapolis are the culmination of something much bigger,” Slotkin said. “We are experiencing a cultural moment in the United States of America that cuts to the heart of who we are as Americans. And it relates to the behavior of federal forces in our streets.”

“If you have a problem with any of those things happening to you, you should have a problem with those things happening in Minneapolis. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican,” she continued. “And I want people to imagine that if they will do this in Minneapolis, there is no stopping them, or some future administration, doing this to you for what you care about.”