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The Situation Room

Noem Testifies About Global Threats to U.S.; Federal Judge Orders Immediate Release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 11, 2025 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

JOSEPH KENT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: Mr. Chairman, Ranking Members, and all the members of the House, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you and discuss the threats posed to our nation. Despite the progress that we've made so far in the Trump administration, the threat posed by terrorists of all brands remains very high right now.

We've made significant progress under President Trump's leadership. We have the jihadis of ISIS and al Qaeda on the run in Iraq and Syria thanks to the decisive action and the strikes that we've taken there recently since President Trump took office in January.

However, we have a persistent threat from the individuals that were allowed into this country by the previous administration. The number one threat that we have right now, in my view, is the fact that we don't know who came into our country in the last four years of Biden's open borders.

What we have identified is alarming, and I want to share that with you today. We just recently put out a warning, warning of the heightened risk of terrorist attacks posed to the homeland by terrorists pretty much of all stripes, but in particular from ISIS and from al Qaeda. NCTC has been crunching the numbers and going through the sheer volume of known and suspected terrorists that are in the country that came in under the Biden administration.

So, far, NCTC has identified around 18,000 known and suspected terrorists that the Biden administration let come into our country. These are individuals who, under normal circumstances, would never be allowed to enter our country because of their ties to jihadi groups like ISIS and al Qaeda. Yet the Biden administration not only let them into the country, and in many cases facilitated their entry into the country, just like the entry of the Afghan terrorists who committed the terrorist attack here just before Thanksgiving, killing one of our National Guard members and wounding another.

That Afghan was brought into the country as a group of over 100,000 Afghans who were brought here during the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. These individuals, despite what has been reported, were not vetted properly to come into the United States. The individual terrorist who committed the attack in D.C., he was vetted to serve as a soldier in Afghanistan. The Biden administration essentially used his tactical level vetting as a ruse to bring him here and to bring him into our communities, and we've seen the tragic results of that. Now, that Afghan, that attacker, that terrorist is just one of 88,000. We've identified 2,000 of that group of 88,000 who have ties to terrorist organizations.

We're working right now, hand in hand with DHS and with the FBI, to run down this 2,000, the Afghans who came here under Allies Welcome, who have ties to terrorist organizations, and additionally the other 16,000 individuals with ties to terrorist organizations that Biden let into our country. That is probably the top terrorist threat that we face right now, and that doesn't include the individuals who came here illegally through the open border. That number, alarmingly, remains unknown at this time. We're trying to figure out who those individuals are as well.

Also adding to this elevated threat, we have ISIS and al Qaeda that have found sanctuary in places like Afghanistan and Syria due to the transitional nature of those governments, and also again in Iraq and some of the hinterlands of Iraq. These terrorists are able to communicate and spread their propaganda and a lot of their know-how thanks to the proliferation of encrypted apps and also due to just the internet writ large.

The new terrorist tactic that we're seeing more and more is moving away from very deliberate cellular attacks that we can infiltrate easily while they communicate into an inspirational methodology where you have key members putting out media and putting out how-to guides to reach out and to touch individuals inside the United States.

We recently disrupted one of those attacks just before Halloween, thanks to the work of the FBI with support from really the entire U.S. intelligence community and the Joint Terrorism Task Force model in Michigan. That plot touched multiple states and had ties to ISIS inside Iraq and Syria.

Another issue that we are addressing right now, thanks to the decisive leadership of President Trump, is the scourge of fentanyl gang and cartel violence. Under President Trump's leadership, we've designated these cartels and gangs as terrorist organizations, and we've done that rightfully so. These individuals, these terrorists, have killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, as these angel families will tell you firsthand.

What President Trump has done by designating them as terrorists has allowed us to turn the tools of the intelligence community against them and predominantly watchlist them as terrorists to prevent them from ever coming into America in the first place.

To date, we've added about 35,000 of these narco-terrorists to our terrorist watchlist, and we've stopped just around 6,000 of these terrorists from ever entering our country, from setting foot inside of America, so they can no longer kill Americans with impunity. These are just some of the issues that we're covering 24/7, 365 at the National Counterterrorism Center, and I look forward to discussing more with you all today. Thank you. REP. ANDREW GARBARINO (R-NY), CHAIRMAN, HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: Thank you, Director Kent.

[10:35:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We have some breaking news. A federal judge has just ordered that Kilmar Abrego Garcia be released from ICE custody immediately. This is a significant development in the case concerning the Salvadoran man mistakenly deported this year before being returned to the United States. He was really the center of the administration's controversial immigration policy.

So, let's go right to CNN Correspondent Priscilla Alvarez. It's notable also that this is happening as the DHS secretary is testifying to Congress.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela, this is a remarkable development. Again, in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, this has been an ongoing case now for months, and in this scenario, this is the federal judge in Maryland where these proceedings have been happening before her. More specifically, where exactly he would be deported to after he was returned to the United States earlier this year.

Now, the federal judge over the course of these various hearings has made clear her confusion over why the administration was not just deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica, a country that said was willing to receive him because he cannot be sent back to El Salvador. But the administration has been pushing for African countries to take him instead, and that is where the tension was over the course, again, of these hearings.

And now, the federal judge in this order that was received only moments ago saying that Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be released immediately. She also asked the government to notify the counsel, his counsel, of the next steps here by the end of the day, by 5:00 p.m. today. And I'm also reading through her opinion here, which is several pages long, and she even notes, again, quote, "The history of Abrego Garcia's case is as well-known as it is extraordinary."

Again, the administration, when they brought him back, they have put him forth for criminal charges. Similarly, he was being held at an ICE facility. And it was while he was at that ICE facility that the administration was also trying to sort where they were going to deport him. And that was, again, really where these proceedings were trying to discern where that would be. And the government kept coming back with wanting to send him to Africa. His counsel said that made no sense. That he should be sent to Costa Rica where he had protections. The government pushing back on that.

And in the interim, there was no reason, the judge found over these hearings, for him to remain in government custody if they were still going back and forth on where he would be deported to.

So, again, now Kilmar Abrego Garcia will be released according to this order. I have reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment. They have not returned comment yet. We'll see what the government files in this case in response to this opinion.

But to remind viewers, this is the Salvadoran man who earlier this year was sent to El Salvador despite what we call withholding of removal to that country. He had an immigration judge order that prevented him being sent back to El Salvador because of concerns for his safety there. Otherwise, he could be deported to any other country. But the administration did send him there and said in filings that that was a mistake. Well, and he was held at that Salvadoran prison.

The administration returned him over the summer to face criminal charges. He was released for a period of time before being detained again by the administration and being held at a nice facility in Pennsylvania. So, now we are on watch to see what happens and unfolds over the rest of the day. Because again, while the federal judge is saying here you have to release him immediately, she's also saying report back on what exactly you are going to be doing to make that happen by again 5:00 p.m. today. So, we are watching all of this closely and reading through her opinion on how she came to this decision.

BROWN: Yes, this is significant. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much. I want to go to Andy McCabe on this, because when all of this was going on, when the administration unmistakably deported Abrego Garcia, Kristi Noem had said on multiple occasions that he would never set foot or live in the United States again. She is about to testify on Capitol Hill. And then you have this big development in this case.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST AND FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Pretty much everything the government has said over the long course of this case and its companion criminal case, they indicted him when they brought him back from El Salvador, has been reversed. They said they'd never bring him back. They brought him back. Now, he would never set foot freely in this country again, and here he is getting released.

I think he's still a long way from determining where his future is going to be. They haven't abandoned their efforts to deport him. They're just locked in this struggle with the judge as to where they can possibly deport him to. But it does seem that for the interim, he'll be a free man reunited with his family, no doubt.

BROWN: But this could be appealed quickly, right?

MCCABE: Absolutely. I'm sure it will be appealed. But typically, you know, these are very fact-based matters. And when a judge weighs in as deeply as this judge has, I mean, there have been so many hearings in this case. There have been so many requests for evidence, people testifying.

[10:40:00]

It's hard -- those are much tougher rulings to appeal because they are -- you know, appellate courts have a lot of respect for district courts when they really get down in the weeds in the facts. BROWN: And again, you know, just to reiterate, we're about to hear from Secretary Noem. What questions do you think this latest development raises for her? Because this case encapsulated so much, right? It encapsulated the tactics and the policy around immigration for this administration, whether the administration was actually following the judge's orders initially. And now, you have this latest development where he, for the time being at least, is going to be released.

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR AND FORMER DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: I think what's going to be raised, I think, by members of the committee is the legality of all of this and really put it to Noem to answer those tough questions. I mean, you'll remember that they deported a plane full of people when a judge's order came down saying, you can't do that. But the plane continued on.

And so, I think with this case, it's become such a political firestorm as well, because he was wrongfully deported and it was something that DOJ did admit. And the White House had, you know, obviously had to say no and backtracked on it. But I think it has become a case where it shows the brutality of what this administration is willing to do, rip apart families, go into facilities where there are daycare workers or, you know, at schools and take people away. And they're not focused on the actual criminals who are here wrongfully. And that -- you know, that should be the priority. So, I think she's going to face a lot of questions.

BROWN: Well, hear what she says, because the administration has time and time again said we are getting the criminals off the streets and that's a big focus. But also, we know several people who have been taken and detained have not had criminal records. I want to listen in because I believe the secretary is being questioned right now.

GARBARINO: Secretary Noem, I also want to ask you, in September, the Department of FEMA proposed new allocations for counterterrorism grant funding, which cut dollars to New York by 80 percent because of a new formula. Considering New York is a consistently a top target, this was surprising. We're grateful President Trump restored this grant funding and pursuance of the present direction. Has the department increased the allocation to New York?

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Yes, President Trump did. I would say that when we look at the Homeland Security grants and how they're allocated, the formula focuses on where we see the threats today and where those communities are -- that need the resources. I would also inform the committee and you, Mr. Chairman, that New York City at the time of the allocation still had over $440 million in reserve that was available to them to utilize.

So, the intention of these grants is that communities and cities would use the dollars to build up the security measures that they need to do for a long-term impact and that the same amount of dollars aren't necessary every single year. You need to meet the threats where they are in the country at the time the grant dollars are available. So, thank you to all of you for your work on getting us dollars that we can give to grants to help secure our local communities and states. But when we're looking at cities that have hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves, we recognize that giving them hundreds of dollars, of millions more, may not be appropriate considering all of the threats that we have. But President Trump has sent more resources to New York City, we'll continue to meet the threats head-on because that is our mission, is to make sure that we're looking at every single threat that we have.

The formula that we have considered and have put in place recognizes what came over the border, where we see the infiltration going, which communities are impacted, and what we need to do to harden our systems.

GARBARINO: I appreciate that, Secretary, and I appreciate the work you're doing with the President. I appreciate his decision to send that increased money to New York. I have a question. Since this is about worldwide threats, can you discuss what DHS's most significant concerns are today for the country?

NOEM: I would say, Mr. Chairman, what keeps me up at night is that we don't necessarily know all of the people that are in this country, who they are, and what their intentions are. We think up to 15 to 20 million people came in under the Biden administration on the invasion over the southern border. They were not vetted. They were allowed to pour in our parole programs, our asylum programs, our visa programs were all exploited and the integrity was demolished under Joe Biden and the leadership of the Department of Homeland Security. And frankly, the entire department was neglected. In fact, I believe the secretary was told at times not to do certain things by the Biden administration to facilitate this invasion.

So, what keeps me up at night is the individuals that are in this country that wish to do us harm. And that is why we are so aggressive at making sure that we're going out and doing investigative work, finding those violent criminals, finding those people who shouldn't be in this country to begin with, and those that want to go after and to harm our American citizens.

GARBARINO: Thank you, Secretary. Director Glasheen, during, as you heard, and as you said, during the next few years, the United States will host more major events than ever before. This brings obvious security concerns, including counter drones, which we just passed into authorities in the NDA yesterday. How is the FBI preparing for counter drone threats during mass gathering events?

[10:50:00]

MICHAEL GLASHEEN, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR, FBI NATIONAL SECURITY BRANCH: Chairman, thank you for that question. You know, Counter-UAS, the passage of the legislation yesterday is a game changer for us.

How we're preparing for that going forward, we just stood up a Counter-UAS school down in Huntsville, Alabama, where we will train federal officials, state locals, as well to assist with that preparation and implementation of using Counter-UAS technology. Prior to this passage, it was only the FBI and or DHS that could provide that assistance. Now, that this passage of authority, it will allow us to have a greater handling of the threat to a mass event.

GARBARINO: Thank you very much. I yield back. I now recognize the ranking member for five minutes of questions.

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Glasheen, will you tell me the organizations that pose on the domestic side, two of the organizations, number one, number two, threat to the homeland at this point? Can you please clarify the organizations? Any domestic terrorist organization that poses a threat to the homeland as we speak?

GLASHEEN: The first one, you know, you know, President Trump had just announced Executive Order Domestic Terrorist Organization, Antifa. That's our primary concern right now.

THOMPSON: All right. That's what President Trump did. What does the FBI say?

GLASHEEN: We share the same view. When you look at the data right now, you look at the domestic terrorist threat that we're facing. Right now, what I see from my position is that's the most immediate violent threat that we're facing on the domestic side.

THOMPSON: So, where is Antifa headquartered? What we're doing right now with the organization. Where in the United States does Antifa exist? If it's a terrorist organization and you've identified it as number one.

GLASHEEN: We are building out the infrastructure right now.

THOMPSON: So, what does that mean? I'm just -- we're trying to get the information. You say Antifa is a terrorist organization. Tell us as a committee, how did you come to that? Where do they exist? How many members do they have in the United States as of right now?

GLASHEEN: Well, that's very fluid. It's ongoing for us to understand that. The same, no different than al Qaeda and ISIS.

THOMPSON: No, no, I don't want you -- I'll ask one question, sir. I just want you to tell us, if you said Antifa is the number one domestic terrorist organization operating in the United States. I just need to know where they are, how many people. I don't want a name. I don't want anything like that. Just how many people have you identified with the FBI that Antifa is made of?

GLASHEEN: Well, the investigations are active.

THOMPSON: Sir, you wouldn't come to this committee and say something you can't prove, I know. I know you wouldn't do that, but you did.

Madam Secretary, you and the gentleman from NCTC referenced the unfortunate accident that occurred with the National Guardsman being killed.

NOEM: You think that was an unfortunate accident? THOMPSON: I mean, no, wait, wait, look, I'll get it straight. Then you can --

NOEM: He shot our National Guardsman in the head.

THOMPSON: Look, Mr. Chairman, will you direct the witness to allow me to ask my question? It was an unfortunate situation, but you blamed it solely on Joe Biden. I want you to know who approved the asylum application for this same person.

NOEM: Mr. Thompson, this individual that came into the country.

THOMPSON: I want to know who approved --

NOEM: Congressman Thompson, I want you to understand --

THOMPSON: No, no, no.

NOEM: -- when this individual came into the country, he came under the evacuation of Afghanistan under Operation Allies Welcome, was thoroughly vetted by the Biden administration at that point in time, allowed into our country, and that was never followed up.

I want to remind everybody in Congress.

THOMPSON: Reclaim my time. Reclaim my time.

NOEM: We follow the law and every asylum is supposed to have a check- in every single year, and the Biden administration failed to do that. We -- they vetted this individual, allowed them into our country and did not do due diligence.

GARBARINO: Witness will allow the gentleman to ask his question.

NOEM: Yes or no, who approved the asylum claim?

[10:50:00]

NOEM: The application on the asylum was thoroughly filled out by information that was gathered by the Biden administration.

THOMPSON: So, the Biden administration approved the asylum?

NOEM: The asylum application was put into place under the rules established by the Biden administration.

THOMPSON: Reclaiming my time. I don't want to charge our perjurer charges against you, but I'm of the opinion that the Trump administration, DHS, your DHS, approved the asylum application.

NOEM: The asylum application moved forward under all of the information and vetting processes that were put in place under the Biden administration, which is when vetting happened. And that's what President Trump has changed. Under President Trump's administration --

THOMPSON: Reclaim my time again. It's obvious you don't want to answer the question. Mr. Kent, do you want a shot at it?

KENT: The individual was vetted to serve as a soldier in Afghanistan and that vetting standard was used by the Biden administration as a ruse to bring him here. Had we followed the standard operating procedures for special immigrant visas, that individual and none of the all Allies Welcome people would have come to America. That's on Joe Biden.

GARBARINO: Gentlemen, gentlemen, time has expired.

THOMPSON: No, no. Just answer --

KENT: That was the answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Point of order, Mr. Chairman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was a murder that took place in D.C. It was not an unfortunate incident. And those comments are disrespectful.

THOMPSON: Who is it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- better from the --

GARBARINO: It's not a valid of order. I would recognize the gentleman from Texas, former chairman, Mr. McCaul for five minutes.

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Madam Secretary. Great to see you. This hearing reminds me of the novel, A Tale of Two Cities. They see it, the Dems see it as the worst of times. But I see it really as the best of times.

What do I mean by that? Under the Biden administration, 15 to 20 million illegal aliens unvetted, as you indicated, came into this country. What I think most disturbing is Director Kent's testimony. 18,000 known or suspected terrorists got into this country under the Biden administration. That's why we impeached Mayorkas. I was one of the managers. He told his Border Patrol, you don't have to pay attention to federal law when it says, shall detain aggravated felons. He disregarded federal law and says, you know what? May detain. It's discretionary. And guess what? We have thousands of aggravated felons now, or if not millions, in this country today. That was the worst of times.

We go the best of times. Most secure border I've seen in my 22 years in Congress. And I've dealt with this for a long time. Coming from Texas, being chairman of this committee, the daily crossings are 95 percent down from the prior administration. That's the best of times.

Zero catch and release. My very first bill in Congress, 22 years ago, was to end catch and release. 22 years later, we finally have achieved that goal. That, Madam Secretary, is the best of times. An all-time record low. America is safer today. I feel so.

And when I look at the Venezuelan vessels attacked, the president had every right under the Constitution, Article 2, international waters, cartels designated as FTOs, coming into our country to spread poison to kill Americans. If that's not self-defense, I don't know what it is.

And then finally, Madam Secretary, thank you for taking out the shadow Iranian oil tankers headed from Venezuela to Cuba, getting around our sanctions that Congress passed. I'm finally seeing an administration flexing its muscle in this hemisphere, which has been neglected for so many years. So, air, land, and sea is your charge.

It's the military's charge as well. I see the land secure. I see the maritime borders getting more secure. And I applaud you for that. On the air secure piece, I chair the Special Events Task Force. That's FIFA, the Olympics, the 250th anniversary. Drones are the biggest threat as I see it. I see it in Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. And I see it across our border. And I see it at these events.

If you could update me, and with the new NDA authorization to allow federal, state, and locals to work together to identify hostile adversary drones and take them down, can you tell me how that will impact your ability, Madam Secretary, to better secure these special events?

NOEM: Yes. Thank you, Congressman McCaul. And thank you for your leadership. I understand you're retiring. And I'm sad about that. You've been a statesman. Thank you for serving with such dignity.

MCCAUL: Thank you.

[10:55:00]

NOEM: The counter-drone and drone technology that is out there today, frankly, our authorities haven't kept up with. And so, thank you for that legislation. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to truly defend the homeland.

Here at the Department of Homeland Security, we are going to be investing upwards to $1.5 billion into drone technology and counter- drone technology and mitigation measures that we can deploy not just across different NSC events or large-scale events that we're responsible for the security on, but also that we can use to partner with cities and states for celebrations and different things that they may hold as well.

So, we have the responsibility at the Department of Homeland Security for FIFA and the 11 cities that will be hosting the matches here in the United States, also the Olympics, the America 250 celebrations, also other national security events that happen, such as Mardi Gras and other events that are going on throughout the country.

So, this program that we will have will not only work within the events that the department is responsible for, but we will be able to sign agreements with states and cities to provide measures that they don't currently have. And we're working with the FAA as well to get what we need to be able to operate. And we don't want just to detect. We don't want to just monitor. We need to mitigate. We need to take these drones down. We need to do this. MCCAUL: If I could add to my time, it sounds like it's going to expire. There is so much technology out there today, counter-drone technology, that I've been working to get into Ukraine to protect them from Russian drones, that we can deploy at these events. I'd love to visit with you on that at a later date. Thank you for your service.

NOEM: Yes, thank you.

GARBARINO: Genteman's time has expired. I now recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Correa, for five minutes of questions.

REP. LOU CORREA (D-CA): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I agree with my colleague from Texas. It is a tale of two cities. Secretary Noem, Trump administration, you're going after the worst of the worst criminals. And we agree with you. The problem is 70 percent of the people you've arrested have no criminal record. You're going after non-criminal immigrants, U.S. citizens, and permanent legal residents.

Donna Hughes-Brown, Irish citizen, green card holder, 48 years in the United States. She also happens to be the mother of a U.S. Marine, sister to a retired Army colonel. She's in ICE detention since July. She tried to come back from Ireland, arrested, has been there since then. Her crime? She wrote two bad checks for less than $80 a decade ago. You arrested her? She's in custody.

Her husband, Jim Brown, came to us and told us her story. Jim told us, I voted for President Trump because he promised to go after criminals in our community and not people like my wife. If I can, I'd like to play a video for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORREA: Then he also voted for President Trump.

JIM BROWN: Yes, sir.

CORREA: Why did you vote for him?

BROWN: Because I was an idiot. 80 percent of the evangelical Christian people were lied to, if you really want to know the truth. And that's exactly what happened. They said criminal, you know, and I believe criminals need to be off the street.

CORREA: I just want to make sure people watching this understand who you are.

BROWN: My wife and I, when we don't work, we're ministers. We help the needy. That's what we do. We, and that's who they're arresting. That's who they're arresting. It's --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORREA: Now, we've got Mr. Jim Brown before you, he's ending up hopefully you can talk to him a little bit. These people, Donna Hughes-Brown are not the individuals that should be deported. Another case Narciso Barranco was beaten and arrested by mass agents while working as a landscaper. He's in a documented immigrant 30 years in this country, not a traffic ticket. Mr. Barranco is also the father of three U.S. Marines. Three Marines. You want to make a movie of people like this? A man who comes to this country instills patriotism in his kids. They swear an oath to serve and possibly give up their life for this country.

We play a video on this as well, please.

[11:00:00]