Watch: Protests erupt as Kristi Noem refuses to apologize for DHS shootings at hearing
Protests erupted during a House Judiciary Committee hearing after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem refused to retract claims that two protesters killed by her agents were domestic terrorists.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) was the first Democrat to confront Noem about the killings at Tuesday's hearing.
"Secretary Noem, the nation has watched horrified as immigration agents killed Renee Good, Alex Pretti," Durbin said. "In Chicago, one of your Border Patrol agents shot Marimar Martinez five times after ramming her car."
"You and your agency rush to brand these victims as, quote, domestic terrorists," he continued. "We have ample video evidence and eyewitness testimony proving you are wrong. Your statements cause immeasurable pain to these families. Let me give you an opportunity to do the right thing. Do you retract these statements identifying these individuals as domestic terrorists?"
For her part, Noem declined to retract the claims of domestic terrorism.
"You know, Senator Durbin, when we have these situations happen, we always offer our condolences to those families," the secretary explained. "And I offer mine as well. These are tragic situations. And I can't imagine what these families go through in losing a loved one."
"I was getting reports from the ground from agents at the scene," she added. "And I would say that it was a chaotic scene, as you've seen in Minneapolis and St. Paul, as immigration enforcement has gone forward. And we've worked at targeting the worst of the worst that many times our agents have been faced with violent protesters."
"You believe calling the victims of that violence domestic terrorists as a way to calm the scene?" Durbin wondered.
"These violent terrorists have put them in a situation where they've been, it's unprecedented what these agents have faced it," Noem insisted.
At that point, the secretary stopped speaking as a protester erupted in the room.
"You haven't given their family any justice," the demonstrator screamed. "They have names!"