Noem testifies at Senate Judiciary hearing about deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good

On March 3, 2026, DHS Secretary KNKristi Noem testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the first time since federal agents killed Renee Good on January 7 and Alex Pretti on January 24 in Minneapolis. The hearing came as DHS had been in a partial shutdown since February 14. Democrats refused to fund the department without reforms to immigration enforcement. Republicans used the hearing to blame Democrats for the shutdown. But the most revealing exchanges came from within Noem's own party.

In the immediate aftermath of both killings, Noem publicly labeled Good and Pretti domestic terrorists. She also claimed Pretti had brandished his firearm before being shot. Bystander video reviewed by four major news organizations contradicted both claims. At the hearing, Noem refused to retract either statement or apologize to the victims' families. When Senator DDDick Durbin asked directly if she would retract the domestic terrorist characterization, she called both situations tragic but did not say she was wrong. When Senator Amy Klobuchar asked if she had anything to say to Pretti's parents, Noem declined to apologize.

Noem tried to distinguish between calling someone a domestic terrorist and saying an incident appeared to be an act of domestic terrorism. She told Klobuchar: I did not call him a domestic terrorist. I said it appeared to be an incident of domestic terrorism. Klobuchar replied: I think the parents saw it for what it was. Pretti's family had previously called the administration's characterizations reprehensible and disgusting. Senator ASAdam Schiff said Noem had caused endless injury to the victims' families on the basis of God knows what and asked how she expected to gain public trust while pushing false information about the shooting of American citizens.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis of 🌲North Carolina delivered the harshest assessment of any lawmaker at the hearing. He called DHS a disaster under your leadership and said Noem had stifled internal reviews of both killings. He said the investigation is going to prove that Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti probably should not have been shot in the face and in the back. Tillis also accused Noem of blocking other law enforcement agencies from participating in the shooting review, saying officer-involved shootings have a formula that we should go through every time, and we are not going through that formula. He threatened to block nominees and freeze Senate business until DHS answered his questions about immigration enforcement in North Carolina.

Tillis was not alone. Senator Lisa Murkowski of 🐻Alaska had already called for Noem's resignation. Senator John Kennedy of 🎺Louisiana confronted Noem at the hearing about a DHS advertising campaign that prominently featured Noem herself. ProPublica had previously reported that a lucrative subcontract in the campaign went to Ben Yoho, the husband of former DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. Kennedy said his research showed the contract was not properly bid out and that the winning company had been formed just 11 days before Noem chose it.

The hearing also surfaced a broader pattern of DHS conduct beyond Minneapolis. Durbin raised the case of Geraldo Luna Campos, who died in ICE detention. DHS claimed he had died by suicide, but an independent medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. Witnesses said guards at the facility strangled him. Rather than investigate, DHS tried to deport the witnesses. A federal judge had to intervene to keep them in the country. Noem said she could not speak to the details of the case. ICE whistleblower Ryan Schwank had also recently testified at a congressional forum that the agency is lying to Congress and the American people about its training of new recruits.

Marimar Martinez attended the hearing in person and was introduced to the committee by Senator Richard Blumenthal. Martinez is a woman who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in Chicago in October. A lawyer for Martinez confirmed the agent is now under criminal investigation. When asked if she condemned the officer's conduct in the Martinez case, Noem said she did not know the situation but pledged to look into it.