Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday shut down attempts by a journalist to demonize President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, noting that he was complying with federal law.
Noem made the remarks on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” with Margaret Brennan when asked about separating illegal alien families — which is done to ensure that children are not being trafficked.
“The administration has revived this policy of detaining migrant families, parents with children, in ICE detention centers,” Brennan said. “Bush did it. Obama did it. Biden did not.”
“Have you seen these Texas facilities where children are being held with their parents?” she asked. “Are you comfortable with it personally?”
After a brief exchange, Noem noted: “I don’t know that we’re actually reviving it.”
“It’s that President Biden didn’t follow the law,” she said. “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,” she continued. “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.”
“They have done incredible work cleaning up our communities and making them safer,” she concluded. “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.”
.@Sec_Noem shuts down the Fake News’ attempt to pin ‘family separation’ on President Trump: “I don’t know that we’re actually reviving it, it’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… pic.twitter.com/vWlaopl7ZJ
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 9, 2025
