The tension in the Trump nomination hearings escalated on Friday as South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem fired back at a top U.S. Senate Democrat who challenged her to defend the controversial “kids in cages” policies of the first Trump administration. In an effort to control illegal border crossings, President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security implemented a policy in 2017 that prosecuted adults entering the country illegally. Children accompanying them were classified as unaccompanied minors and remained in the U.S.
Noem, Trump’s nominee to lead DHS, faced tough questioning from Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) during her appearance before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Blumenthal pressed her on the issue of family separations, asking if she plans to pursue the reunification of approximately 1,000 children who are still believed to be separated from their parents. Senate Democrats “have introduced a measure called Keep Families Together” and the “Families Belong Together Act” to reunite migrant children with their parents post-deportation, Blumenthal explained. “I hope you will support that kind of effort,” he said to Noem.
The South Dakota governor then set the senator — and the record — straight. “Senator, the Trump administration never had a family separation policy. They had a zero-tolerance policy which said that our laws would be followed,” Noem shot back. “What I’m alarmed by are the over 300,000 children that went missing during the Biden administration.”
After the Biden-Harris administration reversed Trump’s zero-tolerance policies, mainstream media outlets, including The New York Times, reported that chaos along the southern border led to authorities losing track of tens of thousands of children as early as 2022. Republican Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), whose state of Texas was the epicenter of many of these disappearances, famously challenged DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to explain the failure.
“When we talk about children and what they’re facing, potentially as far as victimization in this country and the trafficking that’s going on, this administration’s lack of desire to find out where those children are or what they’re going through is alarming to me,” Noem added. At that, Blumenthal attempted to move on. “Let’s put aside…” he cut in, but Noem wasn’t done: “Well, I can’t put aside 340,000 children.” Watch the exchange below:
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL: “Will you help me reunite children with their parents who were separated by Trump’s family separation policy?”
KRISTI NOEM: “What I’m alarmed by is the over 300,000 children that went missing during the Biden administration.”
BLUMENTHAL: “Let’s put aside the… pic.twitter.com/j13huXJTjE
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) January 17, 2025
