At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sec. Kristi Noem delivered her opening statement.
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00:00The gentlelady from South Dakota, the floor is yours.
00:02Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Ranking Member Underwood and members of this committee for giving me the honor of being before you today.
00:10As a former colleague of the House of Representatives, I recognize the important role that you play in oversight over the federal government and our agencies,
00:18and I'm grateful for the chance to come here and talk about all of the good work that the Department of Homeland Security has done,
00:24the employees and the people who walk alongside us each and every day to follow through on what President Trump has committed to the American people,
00:31and that is to make America safe again.
00:34Today, I'm very proud of the accomplishments that we've tackled, and we've delivered the most secure border in American history.
00:41At the southern border, we have obtained near total control with daily encounters now, down over 93% since President Trump took office.
00:50March saw the lowest number of border encounters in recorded history in the history of the United States of America at just under 7,200.
01:00That means that there were days where we had less than 200 encounters, which, again, is the lowest in recorded history.
01:07Under the previous administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was at times encountering over 15,000 people a day,
01:14which mean efforts were diverted into processing and facilitating an invasion of our country instead of doing their jobs.
01:22This astonishing turnaround is a testament to the resolve and to the leadership of President Trump to make America safe again,
01:28and it is accomplished by the incredible work of the people of the Department.
01:32The secure border has allowed the Border Patrol to zero in on cartels and their illicit activity,
01:37and President Trump has designated six different cartels and criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.
01:44This has allowed us to use a whole-of-government approach to go after drug traffickers, human traffickers,
01:50and, in March, fentanyl traffic at the border fell by 54% compared to the previous year.
01:57We are enforcing immigration laws to identify, to arrest, detain, and to remove dangerous illegal criminals out of our country,
02:05and we're prioritizing individuals that have committed crimes in our communities.
02:10Aliens are a threat to our public safety and to our national security,
02:14and especially those that are affiliated with terrorist organizations such as Trendyahuagua and MS-13.
02:20This includes those who have final orders of removal in place are a priority for this administration.
02:27We've also worked with President Trump on his America First trade agenda
02:31through the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol actions and enforcement.
02:35The Biden administration hollowed out America's industrial base, and they shipped our jobs overseas.
02:40Well, President Trump is changing all of that.
02:44His actions are proving that tariffs are an effective negotiating tool to address trade imbalances,
02:49and, in fact, companies are reshoring jobs here in America every single day.
02:53The Department of Homeland Security is reforming and rethinking federal improvement
02:57in our involvement in emergency response and management as well.
03:03President Trump recently announced new members to the FEMA Review Council,
03:07which I will co-chair with the Secretary of Defense.
03:10Now, this council is charged with fixing a broken system,
03:13and it is a system that will, when fixed, return power to state emergency management directors
03:19to make America safe again.
03:21And we're also taking steps to defend the nation's transportation systems,
03:24which are vulnerable to targets and attacks.
03:28The Transportation Security Administration is responsible for ensuring the security of all of those that travel.
03:34In a single day, there are over 45,000 flights and nearly 2.9 people travel on our airlines
03:42and our passengers in the United States.
03:44We're fulfilling our obligation to enforce and to launch real ID
03:48in order to follow federal law that was enacted nearly 20 years ago.
03:53Validated IDs will secure travel, safeguard our elections,
03:56and make sure that we never experience and work to prevent a 9-11 attack again.
04:02As technology advances, so do the threats to our nation,
04:06and that's why cybersecurity is so crucial to our future.
04:09Countries like Communist China have both the capability and the intent to infiltrate
04:13and to potentially disrupt our critical infrastructure systems.
04:18The Homeland Security Department is responsible for 10 of the 16 different critical infrastructures.
04:23And despite these threats, the Biden administration instead used CISA to play politics and to police speech.
04:30Under President Trump, we've been working to get CISA back on mission
04:33and to make sure that they're focused on cybersecurity.
04:36Now, the Coast Guard is the only branch of our military and our U.S. Armed Forces
04:41that is under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security.
04:44And it has many different missions with specialized needs going forward.
04:48As we secure our southern border, the cartels have shifted their activities to our maritime borders.
04:53And the Coast Guard has already surpassed fiscal year 2024 in the amount of drug interdiction numbers
04:59that they have encountered, and they have also excelled at search and rescue and illegal interdiction.
05:06Since the Coast Guard is facing our greatest readiness crisis right now since World War II,
05:12we need to act to make sure they have the tools, training, and equipment that they need
05:16to be the tip of the spear in our national security response.
05:20We have a plan to reinvigorate the Coast Guard, and this is a critical component of our Homeland Security mission.
05:26Now, with Force Design 2028, which some of you may have heard about already,
05:31we will transform the Coast Guard into a more agile, capable, and a responsive force.
05:37And since I took office, one of the responsibilities that I have is reforming the Secret Service
05:42in the wake of the July 13th assassination attempt on President Trump.
05:47We have reassessed the Secret Service's needs.
05:50We've refocused recruitment away from what the Biden administration was prioritizing with DEI objectives,
05:57and instead bring people in with experience and with training that align with the agency's zero-fail mission.
06:03These accomplishments are just a portion, Mr. Chairman, of what the Department has achieved in just 100 days.
06:09And with the support of this committee, we'll be able to make the Department more efficient and more effective into the future.
06:15I want to thank Chairman Cole for his kind words.
06:18It has truly been one of my greatest honors to have been able to serve with him
06:21in his advocacy for the people in his district, but not just the people in his district,
06:26but the history to which he's represented the people of the United States.
06:30He's a true statesman that works across the aisle to come up with solutions.
06:33I'm so grateful for all of you, but I'm grateful for the people that work every day in the Department of Homeland Security.
06:40They are examples of bravery and dedication, patriotism, and perseverance.
06:45It's our responsibility to give them the resources that they need to meet the challenges of the day,
06:50to give them the training and equipment that they rely on to be successful for the American people.
06:54But we also have to remain accountable to the American taxpayer and make sure that we're spending money appropriately
07:00and where it should be spent to serve them the best.
07:03So thank you for the opportunity to be here today.
07:06And with that, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to your questions.