Noem confronts Democrats over NYC crime, asylum abuses as members hurl accusations

A Homeland Security hearing focused on America's international threats turned into a shouting match on Thursday morning when Democratic lawmakers hurled accusations at DHS Secretary Kristi Noem of abandoning America's largest city and violating asylum law.

Rep. Timothy Kennedy, D-N.Y., said Noem had decided to reduce New York City's security funding for politically motivated reasons.

"It's unconscionable: $134 million in Urban Area Security Initiative funding for the City of New York. What compelled you to knowingly make our cities less safe with these funding cuts?" Kennedy said, referring to the Trump administration's reductions to some of the city's anti-terror transit security programs.

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"What compels you, your mayor and your governor, to release thousands of criminals on the streets rather than to turn them over to ICE?" Noem retorted.

The House of Representatives' hearing on Thursday, titled "Worldwide Threats to the Homeland," provided lawmakers the opportunity to ask Noem and other administration officials about the country's greatest security threats.

Instead, Kennedy argued that by focusing on other priorities and by trimming the urban area security fund, Noem and Trump had opened the city up to security vulnerabilities.

"You should resign immediately," Kennedy said. 

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His attacks echoed the frustrations of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who earlier this year similarly blasted the reduction in the city's funds.

"The shocking actions of Washington Republicans to slash these funds and defund the police put New York City at risk," Hochul said in a press release. 

"We will not tolerate these cuts; New York will take every action available to us - including the courts - to ensure the MTA gets this critical funding to keep millions of riders safe."

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The funding referred to by Kennedy was reinstated when a Manhattan federal judge ordered the administration to unlock that funding in October.

The Trump administration had initially held up FEMA's disbursement of the security funding as a larger effort to get cities around the country to cooperate with immigration-related security efforts.

Noem pushed back on the characterization that the Trump administration had cut the legs out of critical funding from New York, noting that New York City hadn't utilized those funds at the time of their withholding.

"New York did not spend [the funds] - they did not spend," Noem said as Kennedy continued to shout over her.

Noem also sparred with Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., who accused Noem of deporting immigrants with pending applications for asylum - something Goldman contested wasn't permissible under current law.

"If your department then deports anyone with an ongoing asylum application, you are violating the law, correct?" Goldman asked Noem. "If you have an open asylum case, you are here lawfully. But the problem that we are seeing around the country is that you are not following the law. I think [the law] needs to be changed. But you can't just decide that you're not going to follow the law and deport people who have ongoing applications. Unfortunately, that is exactly what's happening."

Noem fired back at the New York congressman, claiming that the Biden administration had unlawfully disregarded immigration law regarding who it allowed into the country while pursuing asylum.

"The asylum program was broken under the last administration," Noem said. "Joe Biden left us with 1.5 million cases - backlogged asylum claims."

Noem, who has spearheaded DHS efforts to shore up the U.S. southern border, announced that the administration had removed as many as 2.5 million illegal immigrants as of Dec. 10. The agency did not detail how many of those, if any, had ongoing asylum claims.