Kristi Noem grilled over Alex Pretti statement, and other key takeaways from Senate hearing

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified before a US Senate committee on Tuesday, defending her record as head of a department that is currently under fire for how it is carrying out President Donald Trump's massive immigration enforcement campaign.

The Department of Homeland Security is also partially shut down, as Democrats in Congress push to withhold its funding unless it reforms the tactic used by its immigration agencies. Some DHS employees, including those in for the Transportation Security Administration, are receiving partial paychecks or working without pay.

Facing tough questions from both Democrats and Republicans, Noem said DHS was accomplishingTrump's goal of ending illegal immigration to the US.

"Our department has delivered historic results that have made our communities safer," Noem said.

Here are three key takeaways from the hearing.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat who represents Minnesota, had questions for Noem about the recent Operation Metro Surge, where thousands of DHS agents conducted immigration raids that sparked protests in the streets and challenges from local leaders.

"Two of my constituents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed," said Klobuchar, referring to two US citizens who were fatally shot by immigration agents during the height of the operation in January.

The government has said the officers involved feared for their lives and acted in self-defence.

In a press conference immediately after Pretti's death, Noem said, without evidence, that Pretti came to the scene of a deportation action with "weapons" and had "committed an act of domestic terrorism" when he was shot.

Pretti was legally carrying a concealed weapon at the time, but video of the incident appeared to show Pretti holding only a phone in his hands and an officer apparently removing a gun from him moments before agents opened fire.

Klobuchar grilled Noem on her statement about domestic terrorism, adding that Pretti's parents had said it had hurt them.

"Do you have anything you want to say to Alex Pretti's parents?" Klobuchar asked.

Noem responded that she was relying on initial information after Pretti was shot when she made the allegation, but did not apologise.

"I can't even imagine what they have gone through in the loss of their son and the loss of their family members," Noem said, and called his death an "absolute tragedy."

Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), both part of DHS, were involved in the shootings of Pretti and Good.

Noem also told Klobuchar that there were still 650 DHS personnel deployed to Minneapolis.

A majority of the Republicans on the panel supported the department's immigration policies and many of their questions focused on former President Joe Biden's immigration policies, which they cast as a failure.

"I appreciate you actually securing our border," said Senator Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, criticised the suspension of some DHS funding, citing a recent shooting in Austin, Texas as an example of why the department needed to have a full budget. The suspect, who died during the incident, was a naturalised US citizen born in Senegal, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

"I wonder how many people like that are waiting to pounce, and DHS doesn't have appropriated funds," Graham said.

Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, pressed Noem about a nine-figure advertising campaign from the department that was aimed at persuading immigrants in the country to "self-deport".

He asked how Noem could square the department's spending concerns with "running $220m (£165m) digital advertisements that feature you prominently?"

DHS has placed ads on internet, television, and radio where Noem warns immigrants in the country illegally to willingly remove themselves from the country, or face deportation by US authorities. The ads often assure these immigrants they have the opportunity to return to the US one day if they leave voluntarily now.

However, the campaign has come under scrutiny for its cost and its contracts for making the ads. Kennedy referred to ProPublica's report that a Republican consulting firm with ties to Noem and her colleagues allegedly received a contract.

Noem responded that Trump had given DHS the task of communicating with the public about its immigration initiativies, and so it launched an ad campaign, following a "competitive bid process".

"I did not have anything to do with picking those contractors," she told Kennedy.

"It troubles me," Kennedy said, adding that he couldn't agree with spending "a fifth to a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer money, when we're scratching for every penny."

Another Republican, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, expressed frustration over her leadership of US deportations. He highlighted Pretti's killing and saidNoem was fumbling the effort to remove people in the country illegally.

Americans were beginning to think "that deporting people is wrong", Tillis said, his voice rising.

"It's the exact opposite. The way you're going about deporting them is wrong," he said.