Kristi Noem held a two-hour meeting with Donald Trump Monday night amid fallout from the shooting of Alex Pretti as Democrats called for her to resign.
Noem was joined by aide Corey Lewandowski in the Oval Office after Trump sent Border Czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis in a major shakeup, according to The New York Times.
Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Communications Director Steven Cheung were also in attendance at The White House.
Trump sent Homan to the embattled city after removing Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino amid unrest over the shootings of both Pretti and Renee Good.
The Secretary of Homeland Security requested the meeting with Trump after her vehement defense of the border agent who shot Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse.
On Sunday, Noem referred to Pretti as a ‘domestic terrorist’ – something that Trump appeared to disagree with.
‘I don’t like any shooting. I don’t like it,’ Trump told the Wall Street Journal.
During a press briefing Monday, Leavitt said she had ‘not heard the president characterize’ Pretti as a domestic terrorist.
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, House Democrats launched an investigation into Noem, while 140 members of the party have co-sponsored an impeachment resolution.
Democrats have come out swinging for Noem, as a large majority – 145 of 213 – of their House delegation now co-sponsors a bill that would see her impeached.
The impeachment bill alleges that Noem has been self-dealing, obstructed Congress and violated public trust.
A spokesperson for DHS told Axios that the efforts were ‘silly’ and Democrats should focus on fixing crime problems in their districts.
The minority party will also launch an investigation into Noem’s work at DHS without any assistance from Republicans, The Washington Post reported.
Senator Elizabeth Warren publicly called on the House to impeach Noem and demanded she resign.
Republican Rand Paul has also called multiple top immigration officials to testify at a February 12 hearing.
Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons have had their presence requested.
Meanwhile, Noem will testify before the Senate on March 3 as part of regular oversight, Politico reported.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for further comment.
The heat on Noem comes after Trump made a clear adjustment in policy toward his immigration crackdown in Minneapolis following the fatal shootings and wild protests from liberals.
Trump announced early Monday that Homan was headed to Minneapolis and ‘will report directly’ to him.
Later, multiple reports said that Bovino was leaving the city and had been locked out of his government social media accounts.
Bovino is a loyalist to Noem and her rumored lover Lewandowski. Both have quietly pushed Bovino as a potential replacement for current Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott, a longtime ally of Homan.
Noem has sought to sideline Scott by having Bovino report directly to her, an unprecedented move within the agency.
Bovino’s removal from Minneapolis underscores Noem’s fading standing with the White House as Trump dispatches Homan and his closest allies to seize control of the operation on the ground.
Homan and Noem have been locked in a power struggle inside Trump’s second-term immigration apparatus, with Homan pushing aggressive, enforcement-first mass deportations while viewing Noem as slow and overly political, sources close to Homan have told The Daily Mail.
Homan, along with his right-hand man Lyons, are understood to be at odds with Noem over her approach to tackling the illegal immigration crisis.
He and Lyons want to pour their resources into tracking down convicted criminals who are living in the United States illegally, as well as people who have already been served final deportation orders.
Their targeted approach to removing the worst of the worst has frustrated Noem, along with Lewandowski and Bovino, according to Fox News.
Noem has instead advocated for a broader and more aggressive approach in an effort to boost the number of reportable deportations each day.
She has made a point to share statistics of successful deportations amid pressure from Trump to rid America of as many as 1,500 illegal immigrants per day.
The rivalry has hardened as rank-and-file ICE agents and DHS officials increasingly align with Homan’s hardline leadership style over Noem’s public-facing approach at DHS.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said Bovino had not been fired and remained a ‘key part of the president’s team.’
Noem even thanked the president in a post to social media following his announcement.
‘I have worked closely with Tom over the last year and he has been a major asset to our team— his experience and insight will help us in our wide-scale fraud investigations, which have robbed Americans, and will help us to remove even more public safety threats and violent criminal illegal aliens off the of streets of Minneapolis,’ she wrote.
A Border Patrol veteran of 30 years, Bovino was selected last year from his role as chief patrol agent of the agency’s El Centro sector in Southern California to lead highly publicized immigration crackdowns across the country.
Bovino’s leadership of highly visible federal crackdowns, including operations that sparked mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and Minneapolis, has drawn fierce criticism from local officials, civil rights advocates and congressional Democrats.
