WASHINGTON — During a tense public hearing Tuesday, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign over her handling of the deadly Minneapolis immigration operation.
And he blasted her for killing her dog, which she had described in her memoir as "untrainable," as well as a goat. Tillis, of North Carolina, argued that killing the animals reflected bad judgment and compared it to DHS’ fatal shootings of two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis.
Then he senator threatened to block many of President Donald Trump’s nominees until he gets answers to questions he has posed to the administration about Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Charlotte.
Tillis, who has clashed with Trump and his administration over numerous issues and nominees, isn’t seeking re-election this fall. His comments reflect high tensions between Noem and members of Congress, particularly over immigration operations in the U.S., and his nomination threats could significantly impede business in the Senate.
As Noem testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Tillis pointed to a letter from DHS’ Office of Inspector General that said there were at least 10 incidents in which Noem had stonewalled internal investigations.
“That’s a failure of leadership, and that is why I’ve called for your resignation,” Tillis told Noem. “If I don’t get an answer to these questions, if I don’t get an answer that you’ve had a month to respond to, and the remaining ones, as of today, I’ll be informing leadership that I’m putting a hold on any en bloc nominations until I get a response.”
Tillis also said he would “deny quorum in markup in as many committees as I can until I get a response.”
That would mean holding up legislation in several committees; in addition to the Judiciary panel, he is on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, the Finance Committee and the Veterans Affairs Committee.
Tillis also told Noem he had read the passage in her 2024 memoir, "No Going Back," in which she described having to shoot her dog, Cricket, for misbehaving, and having shot a goat, as well.
“The passage where you talk about killing a dog that was 14 months old — I train dogs. All right? And you are a farmer; you should know better. You should know that if you’re going out to a hunting lodge and you’re putting pheasants out and you’re putting dogs out, you don’t take a puppy out there. A 14-month-old dog is basically a teenager in dog years,” Tillis told Noem.
“You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time in training. And then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it’s a leadership lesson about tough choices?
“But my point is, those are bad decisions made in the heat of the moment — not unlike what happened up in Minneapolis,” he continued. “We’re an exceptional nation, and one of the reasons we’re exceptional is we expect exceptional leadership, and you’ve demonstrated anything but that.”
Noem wasn’t given a chance to respond to most of Tillis’ attacks, and DHS didn’t immediately respond to questions about his comments.
He did allow her to answer his question about whom Tom Homan, the White House border czar who was put in charge of the Minneapolis operation after Good and Pretti were killed, reports to.
“The president,” she replied.
Tillis told her Homan was put in charge "because I believe the president recognized that you weren’t getting it done in Minneapolis."
"The fact that you can’t admit to a mistake, which looks like it’s under investigation, it’s going to prove that Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti probably should not have been shot in the face and in the back," Tillis said.
“Law enforcement needs to learn from that,” he added. “Not only should the FBI be investigating it, but every single law enforcement agency in that jurisdiction should be invited to it, so our law enforcement officers don’t have this pall cast upon them.”
After Tillis left the hearing, he continued railing against Noem's decision to shoot her dog and goat.
"The dog didn't behave properly, and she kills it during the same lunch where she kills a goat, a family goat, so that just tells me she doesn't do her homework. You know, she's making rash decisions," Tillis told a gaggle of reporters in the Capitol.
"And that's fine if you're killing a dog or a goat on a farm," he said. "It's not fine when people are dying because enforcement agencies aren't actually using the sort of temperament that they should to get it right."
Tillis, a lifelong dog owner, hosted a bipartisan costume dog parade last week in a Senate building that he dubbed "Doggi Gras."
