Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) gave opening remarks on Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing with a blistering rebuke of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, calling her out for defamation, obstruction, and repeated disregard for the courts in the wake of two fatal shootings involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis.
Raskin began by recounting the deaths of 37-year-old Renée Good and 37-year-old Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens. Good, a mother of three, was shot to the head by an ICE agent during an immigration enforcement operation. According to Raskin, she was struck three times and died in her vehicle after agents prevented medical personnel from reaching her.
He berated Noem, who showed zero sympathy for Good’s family and callously labeled the deceased mother as a “domestic terrorist” without any evidence.
Raskin then turned to Pretti, an ICU nurse at a VA hospital who had been recording ICE agents in public—an activity protected by the First Amendment under multiple federal appellate rulings. Raskin recounted that agents pepper-sprayed Pretti, forced him to the ground, confiscated a legally owned firearm he had not drawn, and then shot him multiple times. Like Good, Pretti was posthumously described by Noem as having committed “an act of domestic terrorism,” a characterization Raskin called defamatory and unsupported by evidence.
During his remarks, Raskin played news clips and excerpts from Noem’s prior press conferences in which she defended the department’s actions and repeated the “domestic terrorism” claim.
Raskin Blasts Noem, DHS For Making A ‘Daily Mockery’ Of The Courts And The Constitution
Beyond the shootings themselves, Raskin accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of blocking Minnesota investigators from accessing the crime scenes and withholding evidence from state and local authorities. “It smells like a cover-up and it makes me wonder who the real domestic terrorists are,” he stated.
Raskin broadened his criticism to the department’s legal conduct, citing multiple federal judges who have rebuked ICE officials for misleading testimony and deficient affidavits. He referenced rulings in which judges described agency statements in sharply critical terms and alleged that DHS had violated immigration court orders dozens of times in recent weeks in at least one judicial district.
In Minnesota, Raskin said, a federal judge concluded that ICE may have violated more court orders in a single month than some agencies have in their entire history.
Framing his remarks as a defense of constitutional governance, Raskin called out the DHS for undermining the judiciary and eroding public trust, stating that the pattern of conduct amounted to a “daily mockery” of the courts and the Constitution.
