Jan. 15 (UPI) — Rep. Robin Kelly has introduced articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over the alleged excessive use of force by federal agents executing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
“She needs to be held accountable for her actions,” Kelly said during a Wednesday press conference on Capitol Hill, stating Noem “has brought her reign of terror” to cities throughout the country where Immigration and Customs Enforcement and DHS agents have been deployed.
The first article of impeachment accuses Noem of obstructing Congress by prohibiting elected lawmakers from entering a DHS facility used to detain migrants. The article cites Kelly’s refusal to enter an ICE facility in Broadview, Ill., and at least six instances of members of Congress being denied entrance to ICE facilities in several states.
The second impeachment article accuses Noem of violating public trust as well as the Immigration and Nationality Act and the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution. Kelly cites federal agents allegedly use of excessive and military-style tactics to raid an apartment building in Chicago’s South Shore and detain citizens for hours without warrants or reasons for arrest. The lawmaker states these tactics have been employed in other cities, including Minneapolis, where Good was killed.
The third, and final, impeachment article accuses the DHS secretary of self-dealing, stating she has misused her position for personal gain. Kelly accuses Noem of allegedly bypassing the normal competitive bidding process to award a multimillion-dollar contract as part of a DHS recruitment ad campaign to a firm called Strategy Group, which the husband of DHS official and Nome aide Tricia McClaughlin created just days earlier.
Some 70 members of Congress have sponsored the articles of impeachment.
Kelly, a Democrat from Illinois, first announced she would be filing impeachment articles against Noem after a federal officer fatally shot Renee Nicole Good last week in Minnesota.
Local officials and Democrats have called for a formal investigation into the shooting, which has been denied by the Trump administration. Critics and Democratic lawmakers have accused ICE of murder in Good’s killing, while the Trump administration has characterized the 37-year-old mother of three as a domestic terrorist and the agent who killed her as being fearful for his life.
“Renee Nicole Good is dead because Secretary Noem allowed her DHS agents to run a muck. Families are forever torn apart,” Kelly said.
“Secretary Noem, you have violated your oath of office, and there will be consequences. I am watching you. Members of Congress are watching you. The American people, most importantly, are watching you.”
Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., said ICE, with a budget larger than all but three militaries in the world, has become Trump’s “personal paramilitary force.
“Under her direction, ICE has carried out widespread warrantless arrests, used excessive force and violated the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens,” she said in a recorded statement.
“This is a breach of public trust.”