Multiple Senate Republicans told reporters on Tuesday evening that they want Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be removed from her position, following weeks of chaos and a violent crackdown by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis that has left multiple people dead and neighborhoods marching in resistance.
"I think that what she's done in Minnesota should be disqualifying," said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), in a video posted to X by congressional reporter Jamie Dupree. "She should be out of a job. And I mean really, it's just — it's just amateurish."
"It's terrible, it's making the president look bad on policies that he won on. He won on a strong message about immigration," Tillis continued. "And now nobody's talking about that, they're not talking about securing the border. They're talking about the incompetence of the leader of Homeland Security and the other people, Bovino, whatever his name is. He needs to go back to California and get his retirement papers and go."
"These people are amateurs," he added. "They've got to de-escalate there, enter these communities with some respect."
Tillis, who is leaving office next year and has become increasingly vocal in his criticisms of the Trump administration, has long been registering his frustration at DHS.
He has accused the agency of not properly committing Federal Emergency Management Agency resources to his home state. And earlier this month, after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot 37-year-old mom of three Renee Nicole Good, and Noem suggested she was a domestic terrorist with no evidence, Tillis placed a hold on all nominations at DHS until Noem agreed to testify to Congress.
Shortly after Tillis's comments, he was joined by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), another Republican senator known for keeping her distance from the Trump administration.
“I voted for her. I think the president needs to look at who he has in place as the Secretary of Homeland Security. I would not support her again and I think it probably is time for her to step down,” said Murkowski, according to Punchbowl News' Laura Weiss. “You have a secretary right now who needs to be accountable to the chaos and some of the tragedy that we have seen.”