President Donald Trump should fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., told Newsmax Tuesday.
Fetterman, the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Management, voted to confirm Noem last year.
"I warned my party back in 2023 that the border was a disaster and [then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was a disaster," Fetterman said on "American Agenda."
"I voted for [Noem] and I took a lot of political blowback for doing that," he added.
"I wanted to work with her because I was a Democrat, and we demand a secure border," Fetterman continued. "We want to deport all the criminals."
But Fetterman said the shooting of two people in Minneapolis and Noem's response have risked damaging Trump's legacy of securing the border.
It's "creating all kinds of damaging kinds of optics," he said. "Two Americans are dead, and I don't believe they were domestic terrorists."
"I think there's been a loss of confidence in leadership, and I think [former President Joe] Biden made a huge mistake not to fire Mayorkas," he continued. "I reached that point where I've lost any confidence on Secretary Noem."
The Pennsylvania senator criticized Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as the "Gestapo."
"Don't ever, ever, ever compare anybody to Nazis," Fetterman said. "ICE has a job to do.
"I don't agree with many of those tactics, but they are not the Gestapo."
Fetterman said the situation in Minnesota has spiraled, creating dangers for the public and for law enforcement officers.
"You have to stand down so no more people get hurt, because you don't really seem to be rounding up exclusively criminals," he said.
"If I was the president, I'm watching my legacy get trashed by these kinds of things in Minneapolis."
Fetterman said his views on the border have put him at odds with members of his own party.
"As a Democrat, I'm going to call out a Democrat, or I'm going to announce that a person that I voted for and I wanted to work for as a member of the Homeland Security, I am incredibly disappointed in," Fetterman said.
"I wouldn't be comfortable if I was president for what's happened in Minneapolis," Fetterman added.
With a shutdown looming as Democrats threaten to refuse to fund the Department of Homeland Security, Fetterman pointed out that ICE is already mostly funded.
"That vote is really largely symbolic because it's not going to defund ICE," Fetterman said.
A shutdown, which would be the second since October, would put the military in a position to not get paid.
"I absolutely revere our military," Fetterman said.
"To not pay our heroes and the people that are defending our nation, that's un-American," he continued.
"And as a Democrat, I've always said that it's wrong to shut our government down," Fetterman added.
"And as that becomes our new tactic ... that made it impossible for me to join that."
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Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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