If the Democrats take back the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026, one member of the Trump administration is going to be spending a lot of time on Capitol Hill.
Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, will be among the first Cabinet officials to be “hauled up” to Congress to face hearings, according to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Speaking on a recent episode of “The Bulwark Podcast,” Jeffries promised “aggressive oversight activity” would center around Noem if the balance of power changes after the midterms.
“It’s my expectation that Kristi Noem will be one of the first people hauled up to Congress shortly after the gavels change hands,” he said.
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The intent of the investigations, he said, would be “to get a real understanding for the American people” of what Jeffries called “the lack of respect for due process, for the rule of law, the unleashing of masked agents on law-abiding immigrant communities, and the disappearing of people in some instances, to other countries without any real evidence that criminal behavior took place.”
As the head of DHS, Noem, the former Republican governor of South Dakota, spearheads the White House’s immigration enforcement agenda, which has drawn intense criticism from advocates and progressive lawmakers.
Though congressional Republicans ultimately approved her to her post, she struggled during her confirmation hearings. In one instance, she couldn’t identify a basic constitutional right that requires law enforcement officers to justify prisoners’ continued confinement.
Read more: Kristi Noem botches definition of ‘habeas corpus’ at Senate hearing
On the podcast, Jeffries suggested two notable House Democrats would spearhead the efforts investigating DHS. One would be Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, who helped lead the bipartisan Jan. 6 select committee and would serve as head of the House’s Homeland Security Committee. The other would be Jamie Raskin D-Maryland, who would be in charge of the House Oversight Committee.
“We’ll figure out what the formulation looks like,” Jeffries said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: If Democrats succeed in midterms, they’re coming for Kristi Noem
