Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that President Donald Trump wants the Federal Emergency Management Agency “remade” rather than dismantled entirely.
“I think the president recognizes that FEMA should not exist the way that it always has been. It needs to be redeployed in a new way, and that’s what we did during this response,” Noem said in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” referring to the federal government’s response to the Texas floods.
“It’s not just FEMA that can respond in these situations. The federal government has all kinds of assets, and we deployed them,” Noem added, pointing to the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection helping with disaster response. Both groups routinely respond to disasters.
Trump has slammed FEMA, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, and mused about possibly “getting rid” of the agency, which administers emergency relief. Noem, too, has said the administration would eliminate FEMA.
Asked on “Meet the Press” a second time whether Trump no longer wanted to end the agency, Noem reiterated that she believed the president “wants it to be remade so that it’s an agency that is new in how it deploys and supports states.”
In the aftermath of the Texas floods, which have killed at least 129 people with 166 still missing, the administration has shifted away from its harsh rhetoric targeting the agency. Noem told reporters Saturday that the federal response in Texas would be how Trump envisions “what FEMA would look like into the future.”
It’s a far cry from how the president has targeted the agency. Just days into his second term, he said, “FEMA has really let us down, let the country down.” That same day, Trump signed an order directing a “full-scale review” of FEMA.
Noem also acknowledged reports from NBC News and other outlets that the secretary requires that she personally sign off on all agency spending over $100,000.
“The $100,000 sign-off is for every contract that goes through the Department of Homeland Security,” Noem said.
“It’s an accountability on contracts that go forward,” Noem added. “But there was no break in contracts. Those contracts were approved as soon as they were in front of me, and FEMA knew they were fully to deploy them the instant that the local officials asked for the request.”
In the aftermath of the deadly floods, some Democrats have criticized the administration’s response, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., going so far as to say that Noem should resign.
Noem responded to Warren on Sunday, brushing off the comment with a laugh.
“I don’t care what she thinks,” Noem said, adding there was “no” chance she would resign.
Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky., said later on "Meet the Press" that it was important "that we make sure that we learn from" the floods. He pointed to deadly floods in Kentucky, saying, "We asked every question after. We didn't shy from anything."
"What I hope happens is people embrace the questions, because the questions don't have to be a political football, and shouldn't be," Beshear said. "It's: 'How do we do better? How do we save more lives? How do we get a better weather forecast? Do we have enough people at the National Weather Service? Can we deploy faster than we did this time?' All of those things are legitimate."
Noem calls 'Alligator Alcatraz' 'secure facilities,' not 'jail cells'
Noem on Sunday responded to criticism of what the administration is calling “Alligator Alcatraz,” an immigrant detention center in Florida. Some Democrats have criticized the center’s conditions, with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., calling them “really appalling.”
Noem argued that standards at federal detention centers “are extremely high.” The “Alligator Alcatraz” facility is state-managed, which Noem acknowledged.
Wasserman Schultz, who visited the facility with other Florida Democrats, said that detainees were “essentially packed into cages” that held more than 30 people each.
“Wall-to-wall humans,” Wasserman Schultz said Saturday.
Noem said she “wouldn’t call them jail cells,” adding, “I would call them a facility where they are held and that are secure facilities but are held to the highest levels of what the federal government requires for detention facilities.”
The secretary said the administration is looking into establishing additional detention centers, and she encouraged people to “self-deport.”
Noem's comments also come one day after the administration faced a setback in deportation efforts in California. A federal judge ruled Friday that officials could not solely rely on a person's race or spoken language in determining whether to detain them.
Noem said she would comply with the judge's order but denied that people are targeted solely for those factors. She said the administration would appeal the judge's decision.
"What we have always done is built a case and done investigative work in who we go after and who we target," Noem said. Enforcement officials, though, also arrest people collaterally when other migrants are present during arrests.
Trump's "border czar," Tom Homan, acknowledged "collateral arrests in many areas" in a CNN interview Sunday but denied that law enforcement relied solely on a person's looks in determining who to detain.
"Let me be clear: Physical description can't be the sole factor to give you reasonable suspicion," Homan said on CNN's "State of the Union." He said a person's appearance could contribute to a decision over whether to detain someone, giving an example of someone with an MS-13 tattoo.
