In a rare meeting amid a partial government shutdown affecting her agency, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem met with Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., on Wednesday afternoon as the Chicago congresswoman pushed for a shift in tactics from immigration agents, according to Ramirez’s office.
Ramirez called the sit-down "heated and tense" in an interview with NBC News, saying Noem did not commit to any policy shifts.
"If there was any hope that she would recognize just how dysfunctional, how unlawful her agency has operated — it was very clear to me that she has no interest in really acknowledging all of the ways that her leadership continues to fail," Ramirez said.
The congresswoman said that when she asked for accountability around the conditions of immigrant detention centers, Noem revealed that her department was looking to consolidate the existing 225 immigration detention centers. NBC News has previously reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of DHS, is looking to build mega warehouses, with some that could hold up to 8,000 detainees.
Ramirez, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee who has railed against the Trump administration's deportation and detention tactics, also called on Noem to commit to six broad policy areas. Among them: Revoke the warrantless home entry memo for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers, reaffirm guidelines to respect the Fourth Amendment, codify minimum use of force standards.
The in-person meeting at DHS' St. Elizabeths campus in Chicago involved Ramirez, her chief of staff and her legislative director, as well as Noem, a senior counselor, two deputy chiefs of staff and an undersecretary, according to Ramirez's office.
“Secretary Noem meets with members of Congress, regardless of political party, on a regular basis," a statement from a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “This meeting honored a commitment the Secretary made during her hearing in December. We hope that the Congresswoman puts the same amount of energy into funding DHS so we can do our work to protect Americans from threats from terrorists, criminals and public safety threats as she has writing letters to the Secretary to resign. Every day this shutdown continues, Democrat members continue to get paid while they put our national security second to politics.”
Ramirez has previously called for defunding ICE, supported the dismantling of DHS and demanded hearings aimed at Noem’s impeachment. In a letter to Noem outlining their discussion Wednesday and shared with NBC News, Ramirez reiterated that she stood by those positions.
“I continue to call for your resignation. Your options are limited: you either resign, Trump fires you, or you will be impeached,” Ramirez said to Noem, according to her letter. “I urge you to reconsider resignation, because I have taken the first step towards your impeachment, and called on the Judiciary Committee to open an investigation into your lawlessness.”
As part of her asks, Ramirez also called for reinstating a 2021 Biden-era memorandum, which stated that immigration agents would refrain from carrying out enforcement in “sensitive areas” like around churches, schools and hospitals.
The meeting comes amid a partial government shutdown that’s focused on DHS, with Democrats demanding changes on how it engages with the public. Democrats in Congress dug in on their demands after immigration officers fatally shot two U.S. citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — in Minnesota last month. The shootings happened after the Trump administration sent some 3,000 immigration agents to the state in January — the largest deployment in a state since Trump ramped up his deportation efforts.
Trump has since said his administration would benefit from using a “softer touch” in its enforcement efforts. However, in Tuesday’s State of the Union speech, the president gave no indication he was slowing down, arguing that Democrats had allowed illegal immigrants to run rampant in the country.
Ramirez, who is from Chicago, saw her district immersed in roving immigration forces that she said wreaked havoc on daily life. Immigration officers regularly clashed with residents, observers and protesters in and around the city, and an ICE processing facility in Broadview, Illinois.
“It is shocking that she would in fact meet with me. I was the first person to ask for her resignation,” Ramirez said. “Is it progress? I don’t know about that. I guess when the bar is so low, any one little thing feels like progress, but it is her responsibility.”
