January 27, 2026
Jack Gruber/Imagn Images
John Fetterman says Kristi Noem should be fired as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. He was one of seven Democrats who voted to confirm her cabinet nomination last year.
Sen. John Fetterman is calling on the White House to oust Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security secretary whom he voted to confirm last year.
The first-term Democrat made a "direct appeal" to President Donald Trump on social media to fire Noem from her cabinet position. In his message, Fetterman invoked the recent killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. He had decried their deaths Monday in a post.
"Americans have died," Fetterman wrote Tuesday. "(Noem) is betraying DHS's core mission and trashing your border security legacy."
Fetterman also criticized Noem's predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, in his message, warning Trump not to "make the mistake President Biden made for not firing a grossly incompetent DHS Secretary." The Republican-led House impeached Mayorkas two years ago over increased border crossings, but the Democratic-led Senate, including Fetterman, voted to dismiss the charges, arguing that they did not constitute a high crime or misdemeanor.
The senator's critique is a sharp reversal from his previous support of Noem. He was one of seven Democratic senators who voted to confirm her cabinet appointment in 2025, and he has repeatedly rejected calls to defund or abolish the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency. Fetterman has praised the "important job" that ICE performs, placing him out of step with most of his party colleagues.
The senator did not specify what changed his mind on Noem, simply calling her a "total failure" in a statement provided by his office.
"Same as Mayorkas was under Biden," Fetterman continued. "They both strongly deserve/d to be fired. America deserves better."
Many lawmakers have criticized ICE following the killing of Pretti on Saturday. The 37-year-old was observing and seemingly filming ICE activity when federal agents shoved him to the ground and a masked officer shot him several times. Federal officials have claimed the ICE agent acted in self-defense against Pretti, who was armed, but footage captured by witnesses shows him brandishing only his cell phone. One video appears to show an officer removing Pretti's gun prior to his killing. Minneapolis police have said Pretti, an ICU nurse for a Veteran Affairs hospital, had a concealed carry permit.
His killing has fueled more outrage and protests, which have been ongoing since ICE ramped up its presence in Minneapolis. The federal agents have employed aggressive – and, lawsuits argue, unconstitutional – tactics in the city. An ICE officer fatally shot Good, an unarmed mother of three, on a residential street on Jan. 7. An off-duty agent also killed Keith Porter, Jr., a 43-year-old father of two, in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve.
Pennsylvania's other U.S. senator, Republican Dave McCormick, called for a "a full investigation into the tragedy in Minneapolis" in a social media post Monday. He stopped short of criticizing ICE, placing the blame for the situation instead on "irresponsible rhetoric and a lack of cooperation from Minnesota's politicians."
Fetterman had pressed for an immediate end to "the operation in Minneapolis," but vowed not to vote in a way that would cause a government shutdown. Senate Democrats have pledged not to fund DHS without new restrictions on immigration enforcement. Fetterman said he would support stripping a bill that would continue to fund DHS from an appropriations package heading to the Senate. The lawmaker said he wants to have "a conversation" about the department's appropriations.
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