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One World with Zain Asher
Lawmakers Question Homeland Security Secretary on Global Threats. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired December 11, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Department of Homeland Security said an illegal alien was arrested by border patrol agents after he quote assaulted federal
law enforcement, adding that Barranco quote, swung a weed whacker directly at an agent's face.
Video shared by DHS and reviewed by CNN, shows Barranco running with a weed whacker, but does not show him striking officers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. LOU CORREA (D-CA): I also have with us today, Alex Barranco, behind you, a retired Marine that's his father. And Alex, on behalf myself,
members here. I want to thank you for your service to our country, and we also thank your brothers for serving our great country.
Thank you very much. Got another case George Retes, 25-year-old native of California, my home state. He's a U.S. Citizen army veteran who served in
Iraq. On his way to work, he came to an immigration checkpoint. Pulled over. I don't know where officers deployed tear gas on him, broke his car
window, pepper spayed him and dragged him out of his car.
An American citizen held for 72 hours without any charges, wasn't even given the opportunity to shower. I shot that paper.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentlemen time is expired. I now recognize gentleman from Mississippi, Mr. Guest.
CORREA: Mr. Chairman. I have two articles I'd like to present for the record.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah --
CORREA: Under President Trump, an agency intended to keep Americans safe has diverted resources from child abuse trafficking and terrorism to
immigration enforcement. Second is this letter from my Orange County Sheriff, Don Barnes, essentially talking about all the individuals under
prop 50, referred to ICE 2025 year to date, 50 of them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without objection.
CORREA: ICE never showed up to pick them up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without objection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will entertain. I will entertain. I will entertain UCs at the end of the hearing, I want to entertain all UC motions at the end of
the hearing, we have witnesses. I want to make sure everybody has time. So, if we do this now, we do have a witness has to leave.
You're just going to be taking time from other members, but I will entertain UC motions at the end of this hearing. I now recognize the
gentleman from Mississippi, Mr. Guest for five minutes.
REP. MICHEAL GUEST (R-MS): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Madam Secretary, great to see you again. Thanks for appearing before us again. I want to echo some
of the remarks of Mr. McCal (ph). I want to first thank you. I want to thank the men and women who serve under your command for the incredible job
that you have done over the last 12 months.
We have seen that you are active in enforcing the rule of law. We have seen a border that is as secure in our lifetime as we have ever seen. You
mentioned in your opening statement, over the last four years, we saw somewhere between 15 to 20 million illegal immigrants enter the country.
Just looking at monthly statistical data, we know that under the Biden- Harris Administration, that in December of 2024 that there were over 300,000 illegal immigrants who were encountered along the southern border.
And that month alone, recent statistics by the Department of Homeland Security for October, the most recent statistics we have so that the number
of border encounters for October of this year under your leadership have dropped to 11,000, a decrease of 90 over 95 percent.
And so, I want to thank you for that. I want to thank you for the work that your men and women have done to protect our borders from illegal narcotics
entering the country. We saw a press release the Coast Guard sent out this week regarding Operation Pacific Viper.
And they mentioned a specific seizure that occurred on December the second by the Coast Guard Cutter Munro, in which in a single incident of
interdiction that the Coast Guard had the largest maritime interdiction seizure in almost 20 years, seizing 20,000 pounds of cocaine in an
individual seizure.
So, I thank you for your aggressive actions in enforcing the law and for the incredible work that you and the men and women under your command are
doing. I want to talk about, as we talk about, threats, I want to talk about threats against law enforcement.
[11:05:00]
Last week this committee, we had a hearing. Then the hearing was entitled when badges become targets. And during that hearing, we talked about the
threats to law enforcement, specifically federal law enforcement, and even specifically within federal law enforcement, the threats toward ICE agents,
the threats toward you and other members of leadership within DHS.
We know that those threats and those incidents of physical attack have escalated dramatically, in some cases, over 1,000 percent. And part of the
driving force, I believe, behind those threats is what I refer to as rhetoric against law enforcement. And I brought this up last week, I want
to bring this up again with you and give you a chance to briefly address this.
These are just roughly 10 of the statements that I was able to easily find online by elected officials, governors, mayors, in many cases, members of
Congress, where they were spewing what I believe to be very harmful statements for toward law enforcement. Governor Pritzker from claimed that
ICE is grabbing people off the street and disappearing them, that our country is becoming Nazi Germany.
Representative Crockett compared ICE to slave patrols. Representative Garcia referred to ICE as thugs. Representative Ramirez attacked ICE as a
terror force, later a terrorist organization, and then later in the hearing, said, let me be clear, the Department of Homeland Security, you
can quote me on that is the single biggest threat to public safety right now.
Representative Tlaib said ICE is terrorizing our community, turning our country into a fascist police state. Representative Jah Paul called ICE
agents de ranged and said as inspiring to obstruct immigration enforcement. Governor Walz smeared ICE agents as modern-day Gestapo.
Chicago Mayor Johnson accused ICE of being secret police and terrorizing our community. Representative Lynch referred to ICE agents as the Gestapo
and non-descript thugs and Representative Frost compared ICE operations to some of the worst horrors and crimes against humanity in history.
And so, Secretary Noem, I'd like to give you a few moments to one address these statements and to speak to how these statements place the safety of
our men and women of law enforcement at risk.
KRISTI NOEM, SECRETARY OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Thank you, Congressman Guest. I appreciate you giving me the chance to talk about
this, because I think the words that these elected officials have used to describe our law enforcement officers are horrific, shocking and
unacceptable.
Every single American citizen should find the words that they have used to describe these men and women that took an oath to keep us safe,
unacceptable and needs to be pointed out that we are seeing the consequences of those words every single day by the violent attacks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentlemen's time is expired
NOEM: 1,000 percent increase 8,000 percent in death threats.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentlemen's time expired. I now recognize the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Thanedar for five minutes of questions. Please remember
to stick to the five minutes.
REP. SHRI THANEDAR (D-MI): Thank you, Chairman Garbarino and Ranking Member Thompson for having this hearing today. I know the American people have
been demanding answers from this administration on their unlawful actions. So, I hope we are able to get some useful answers from our witnesses today.
Secretary Noem, this past May, I asked you during a congressional hearing if it was the policy of DHS to follow orders issued by federal courts. You
said on the record, and I'm quoting here, we are following all federal orders, end of my quote, end of your quote. Secretary Noem, you lied to me
under oath that day.
You lied to the American people, and you have betrayed the trust placed upon you in your role as Secretary of Homeland Security. You defied federal
court orders when you refuse to order the deportation flights to El Salvador in March to turn around. Federal courts have also found your
department to have violated federal injunctions in your continued to send non-citizens on deportation flights, with some courts having called your
orders unlawful.
Secretary, Noem, I just have three questions for you. One, why did you lie under oath by saying DHS was following all federal court orders when they
clearly were not. Question two.
NOEM: Congressman --
THANEDAR: Let me finish my questions. Question two, why did you mislead the American people when you said that no American citizens have been arrested
or detained by federal immigration agents?
[11:10:00]
And my last question, number three, Donald Trump said that your ICE agents haven't gone far enough. Do you think terrorizing American citizens and
assaulting peaceful protesters isn't far enough?
NOEM: Congressman, the Department of Homeland Security and this administration comply with all federal court orders. We always have, and we
always --
THANEDAR: Not true.
NOEM: And we will continue to appeal. And sir, I will even tell you that at the highest court, at the Supreme Court, the Department of Homeland
Security and our litigation have an over 90 percent success rate in winning at the highest court in our battle against activist judges across this
country.
THANEDAR: Madam Secretary --
NOEM -- continue to appeal, and then when it gets to the highest court and we get a decision, it is proven that --
THANEDAR: -- time here.
NOEM: We have been compliant. I will also say --
THANEDAR: Madam Secretary, let me --
NOEM: You want me to answer your questions or not?
THANEDAR: I do, but let me -- you haven't been telling us the truth. Look, there have been at least 170 known cases of citizens being arrested or
detained by federal immigration agents this year alone, this is the truth. Are you lying to the American people right now by denying these reports?
NOEM: When we are doing our targeted enforcement operations against criminal illegal aliens, individuals that are in that area may be detained
until we verify who they are, and then they are released. This has been done for years and every single law enforcement operation that has always
happened, we follow the same protocols, and we continue to do that.
We have never once detained or deported an American citizen. We have not held them.
THANEDAR: Not true.
NOEM: And charged them when we find out by their identity.
THANEDAR: Not true.
NOEM: Then that is when they are released. You also asked about ICE agents going far enough. Sir, I will tell you that every single ICE agent, CBP
agent, federal law enforcement officer that's out there doing their work every day, none of them will rest until our communities are safe.
None of them will rest until terrorists --
THANEDAR: Secretary Noem, it is a fact that you ignored federal orders --
NOEM: -- and our children and our grandchildren can grow --
Secretary Let me reclaim my time here, please. Let me reclaim. Secretary Noem, it is a fact that you ignored federal court orders in March and in
May of this year. Do you plan on ignoring more federal orders?
NOEM: We always --
THANEDAR: I'm sick of your lies. And the American people demand the truth.
NOEM: Because you keep saying it doesn't make it true.
THANEDAR: I am sick of your lies. The American people are sick of this lies. American people demand truth.
NOEM: America is very happy that finally, they have a president in the White House that gets up every day to keep them safe.
THANEDAR: Madam Secretary, your incompetence and your inability to truthfully carry out your duties of Secretary of Homeland Security, if
you're not fired, will you resign.
NOEM: Sir, I will consider you're asking me to resign as an endorsement of my work. Thank you very much.
THANEDAR: I yield back my time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentlemen, yields back his time. I will remind members that they are entitled to ask questions during their time. Witnesses are
entitled to answer those questions. Members are entitled to reclaim their time, so let's we're going to have questions and answers.
Please allow it. You can reclaim your time if you want, but witnesses are here voluntarily. Please at least give them a chance to answer the
questions that you're asking. I now recognize the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Pfluger, for five minutes of questions.
REP. AUGUST PFLUGER (R-TX): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and it's unfortunate that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle for five straight years
now, have no concern for anything worldwide threats wise. And I have proven that we're supposed to be talking about worldwide threats, but
unfortunately, we're talking about homeland threats, threats in our homeland.
And director, can you just reaffirm the number for us of people that match the terror watch list that are in our country?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are 18,000 known and suspected terrorists in the country right now that came in under Joe Biden's watch.
PFLUGER: 18,000?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 18,000.
PFLUGER: That's unbelievable. It's unbelievable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's just what we know of congressman.
PFLUGER: Secretary, despite even members on this committee that have called our law enforcement and ICE and DHS and border patrol and other agents
names and slandered them. I support you, and I support what you're doing to secure the homeland. The Working Families Tax Act allocated 13.5 billion
dollars to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to reimburse states for the cost of the Biden-Harris
Administration's open border policies.
No state suffered more than Texas fentanyl, drug and human trafficking, violent crime, stress on local emergency response services caused
substantial damage to my district, to our state, to my constituents, to people that live and work in Texas. And in response, our state launched
Operation Lone Star to secure the border when the Biden Administration abdicated their responsibility to do that.
We built miles of border wall. We had other barriers. We deployed state troopers National Guard to deter the invasion that we suffered during this
time period, which cost our state over $11 billion.
[11:15:00]
And so, as part of this Working Families Tax Act, we allocated 13.5 billion dollars to reimburse those states. Last month, along with our senators, I
led the Republican Texas delegation in sending a letter to you and Attorney General Bondi highlighting this and requesting that the state of Texas be
fully reimbursed. And I wanted to get a status on that reimbursement today.
NOEM: Yes, thank you. And we are -- we still, to this day, remain incredibly grateful to the state of Texas for their leadership during that
time that was challenging times, devastating times for what we saw happening down there, and Texas stepped up in a way that was absolutely
incredible.
So yes, those dollars are being formulated and allocated. If you remember, many states deployed their National Guard down there. I was Governor of
South Dakota at that time, and my National Guard was deployed down there as well. So, reconciling the costs for every single state and looking at that
allocation, we're making sure we're doing due diligence to make sure that it's appropriated correctly.
PFLUGER: And just to be clear, I want to make sure that that money does come in the form of the reimbursement to Texas.
NOEM: That's what we're working with the White House on doing so.
PFLUGER: Got it.
NOEM: Yeah.
PFLUGER: What when it comes it comes to what Director Kent talked about, these 18,000 people? Can you give us an idea of who these people are, what
type of threat they pose to us? We saw it wasn't some accident. This was an assassination and a murder. It was not an accident, despite my colleagues
saying that it was an accident, it was a murder and an assassination of a National Guard hero --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: Right. You've been listening to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifying on Capitol Hill,
essentially facing a lot of questions about the administration's immigration enforcement policies, which have been considered to be very
controversial.
And obviously you are seeing partisan tensions flare over this. We're going to take a quick break, and then we're going to come back in a couple of
minutes to listen in for more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: OK, we're going to take you back to the House Homeland Security hearing, where we are hearing from U.S. DHS
Secretary Kristi Noem, as she is being questioned by both Republicans and Democrats who are on this committee hearing, let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NOEM: -- for every single person that has served our country and follows and lost --
REP. SETH MAGAZINER (D-RI): Can you please tell Mr. Park why you deported - -
NOEM: -- every one of them needs to be enforced.
MAGAZINER: But you understand that many veterans struggle with PTSD, many veterans struggle with substance abuse challenges.
[11:20:00]
This man took two bullets for our country. Will you have broad authority, by the way, as Secretary to issue humanitarian parole, to do deferred
action? Will you commit to at least looking at Mr. Park's case to see if you can help him find a pathway back to this country that he sacrificed so
much for?
NOEM: I will absolutely look at his case, but I want you to remember --
MAGAZINER: Thank you. Madam Secretary, the man behind you, please stand up, sir. His name is Jim Brown from Troy, Missouri. He is a navy combat veteran
who served our country in the Gulf War. He's married to a woman named Donna, who came to our country legally from Ireland when she was 11 years
old.
She has lived here for 48 years because of you Jim's wife, Donna, has been in prison for the last four months. She did not come here illegally, and
she has never committed any crime other than writing two bad checks totaling $80, 10 years ago. She is currently in prison and facing
deportation.
Ms. Noem, will you thank Mr. Brown for his service to our country?
NOEM: Thank you, Mr. Brown, for your service to our country.
MAGAZINER: Now what possible explanation can there be for locking up his wife for four months when she has committed no crime other than writing a
couple of bad checks for $80?
NOEM: Sir, it is not my prerogative, my latitude, or my job to pick and choose which laws in this country get into --
MAGAZINER: You have broad discretion as the secretary --
NOEM: -- need to follow --
MAGAZINER: -- you can issue role, you can do all kinds of things, but you're choosing not to. Will you commit again to just reviewing Donna's
case and reuniting this combat veteran with his beloved wife who also loves this country?
NOEM: I will review the case.
MAGAZINER: Now, Madam Secretary, you've already heard the story of Lance Corporal Alejandro Barranco, the United States Marine veteran who is behind
you, who also has two brothers who are United States Marines. Will you thank Lance Corporal Barranco for his service.
NOEM: Thank you for your service.
MAGAZINER: His father Narciso Barranco is a landscaper in California who has lived peacefully in our country for 30 years and has no criminal
record. Last spring, while he was mowing the lawn at an ihop, ICE agents tackled him in the street and imprisoned him for weeks.
A peaceful, hardworking man who raised three sons to be United States Marines. We need men of that character in this country. Again, as
secretary, you have broad discretion. Will you consider Lance Corporal Barranco's father for parole in place to stay in our country owing to the
fact that he has contributed to our country by raising three United States Marines.
NOEM: This is an opportunity to remind everybody that every person that's in this country illegally has an opportunity to voluntarily go home, come
back the right way --
MAGAZINER: Three United States Marines --
NOEM: -- facilitate that --
MAGAZINER: He has been living here peacefully, doing his job for 30 years. You have discretion. You are choosing not to use it. Madam Secretary, you
promised America that you would go after the worst of the worst. But these people are not the worst of the worst, a purple heart recipient, a military
spouse, the father of three marines.
And it's not just veterans and military families. You are locking up and deporting children with cancer, mothers with babies in the NICU United
States, citizens. You do -- there are many problems with your leadership. But the biggest problem is this, you don't seem to know how to tell the
difference between the good guys and the bad guys.
Go after the bad guys. Go after the terrorists. Do not go after veterans, marines, children --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentlemen's time is expired.
MAGAZINER: I yield back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I now recognize the gentlelady from Georgia --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: All right, you have been listening to quite a contentious and quite a partisan hearing there in Congress, the House of Homeland Security
hearing, where members of Congress and this committee have been grilling for the most part. DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem, of course, the grilling
coming from largely one party, and that is the Democratic Party.
Others there on the National Security team also testifying. Annie Grayer joins us from Capitol Hill with the latest notably absent is Kash Patel,
though one of his associates at the FBI is there sitting next to Kristi Noem. Talk about what stood out to you, aside from the obvious partisanship
here that we've seen full display.
ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, as one Republican lawmaker put it in this hearing, it really feels like a tale of two cities to hear
Republicans in this hearing engage with Kristi Noem and the other witnesses. They are proud of the work the Department of Homeland Security
is doing.
They feel they want to commend the low border crossings. They want to talk about the events coming up in the next year that are going to be potential
security threats to this country, whether it's the 2026 FIFA World Cup, looking ahead to the 250th anniversary of the United States, and even
further, the 2028 Olympics, hosted in LA.
[11:25:00]
And they are very much forward looking and feeling positive, but the Democrats on this committee have been hammering Noem for her policies for
her deportation efforts. They're using personal stories of individuals who are either in this country legally or had been, you know, good, upstanding
citizens, and trying to get Noem to waver in her firm position here on these deportation efforts.
And even -- and they're also criticizing her use of federal funds, accusing her of misappropriating them, not using funds that were appropriated by
Congress, and using them for her own priorities like a new plane. But the top Democrat on this panel, Bennie Thompson, started his remarks calling
for Noem resign to her face. So, I want to take play for you that clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Have systematically dismantled the Department of Homeland Security, put your own interests above the department and
violated the law, you are making America less safe. So rather than sitting here and wasting your time and hours more with more corruption, lies and
lawlessness.
I call on you to resign. Do a real service to the country and just resign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: -- speaking now. Right, thank you, Annie Grayer, appreciate that. Stay with CNN. There's more "One World" in about 30 minutes from now. But
CNN "Creators" is up next.
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END
