DHS Secretary Kristi Noem refuted the latest media attempt at demonizing President Trump’s immigration policy on Sunday, arguing that the policy is in line with federal law.
CBS News’ “Face The Nation” Margaret Brennan asked Noem about separating families of illegal aliens — which is practiced in order to ensure that no children are being trafficked — saying, “[T]he administration has revived this policy of detaining migrant families, parents with children, in ICE detention centers. Bush did it. Obama did it. Biden did not. Have you seen these Texas facilities where children are being held with their parents? Are you comfortable with it personally?”
Noem answered that Trump's practice isn’t exactly a reviving of the policy, but “[I]t’s that President Biden didn’t follow the law. He didn’t follow the law, in the fact that it’s always been equally applied until his administration, and then he made decisions to ignore federal law in how he handled immigration and enforcement within our borders.”
“Today we’re expanding our team at ICE, and we’re going to have an acting director in Todd Lyons, who has a long history with [border czar] Tom Homan. They have worked together to build on these enforcement operations. We’re also naming a deputy secretary in Madison Sheahan. That was going to be another expansion of this team,” Noem said. “They have done incredible work cleaning up our communities and making them safer. Adding more people to the team, with Todd and with Madison, is going to allow us to partner with local law enforcement officials to make sure that we truly are following through on enforcing the law. And, if you break our law, then there’s going to be consequences.”
Noem also touched on Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico during the interview, saying that they were more about fentanyl than the economy.
“I think the president obviously wants a strong economy, obviously wants better trade deals as well. But this is about fentanyl and what we can do to stop the cartels from partnering with Chinese officials, laundering money and bringing a poison into our country that is specifically designed to kill the next generation,” Noem said. “I think a lot of people don’t understand the strategy of these enemies of the United States and what they’re utilizing. They are bringing this in, not just to make money. They’re bringing it in here to kill Americans. And it’s time that we stand up for the people that live here and make sure that we’re stopping this war against our children.”