Top 5 moments: Noem clashes with Dems in fiery hearing as drones, deportations erupt into flashpoints

A House Homeland Precaution hearing fast became a magnet for explosive exchanges complaints and divisive maintains when DHS Secretary Kristi Noem appeared before Congress on Thursday Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle probed Noem at the House Homeland Measure s Worldwide Threats to the Homeland hearing raising topics on everything from Noem s efforts to stop illegal immigration to the threat of weaponized domestic drones Although Noem had to exit the hearing ahead of schedule due to a meeting with FEMA the hearings still led to plenty of notable moments The meeting got off to a heated start on Thursday when Rep Bennie Thompson D-Miss called on Noem to resign just minutes in citing a long list of what he called violations of U S law WHITE HOUSE CALLS ACCOUNT ABOUT TRUMP CONSIDERING FIRING NOEM TOTAL FAKE NEWS' Rather than sitting here and wasting your time and ours with more corruption lies and lawlessness I call on you to resign Do a real system to the country and just resign Thompson commented Thompson pointed to the administration s efforts to deport illegals to El Salvador against the requirement of a court order the withholding of federal grants to put pressure on American cities to assist with immigration enforcement efforts and the detainment of American citizens as evidence of Noem's wrongdoing Plenty of of the instances Thompson pointed to are being adjudicated in court When petitioned about DHS s efforts to monitor and deter promising drone-related guard threats Noem explained the U S is behind the curve Frankly our agents haven't kept up with it Noem declared Noem mentioned DHS would begin new collaborations with state and local officials through new enabling language contained in this year s National Defense Authorization Act NDAA We are going to be investing upwards of billion into drone instrument and counter-drone system and mitigation measures that we can deploy to partner with cities and states for celebrations and different things that they may hold as well Noem noted Noem noted that drone threats are especially front of mind as the U S prepares to host the FIFA World Cup in and the Olympics among other populace events We're working with the FAA as well to get what we need to be able to operate And we don't just want to detect we don't want to just monitor We need to mitigate We need to take these drones down Noem announced One of the repeated concerns Democrats brought up on Thursday centered around whether the Trump administration is doing enough to make sure the right people are being deported Rep Seth Magaziner D-R I demanded Noem to answer one such question Madam Secretary we are joined on Zoom by a gentleman named Sae Joon Park He is a United States Army combat veteran who was shot twice while serving our country in Panama in Magaziner announced Magaziner described how Park a green card holder had struggled with substance abuse in the years after his organization Park had accrued a drug possession charge and then failed to appear in court Fourteen years later Park self-deported to Korea when he received a removal order earlier this year despite having received leniency in years past Confronted with Park s story Noem promised to review the details of what changed and why Park had been petitioned to leave the country but added that every one of our laws necessities to be enforced She thanked Park for his function CHAOS ERUPTS AT NOEM HEARING AS ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS INTERRUPT TESTIMONYMoments after Sec Noem started her opening remarks a pair of protesters interrupted the DHS secretary demanding that she suspend deportation efforts End deportations yelled the protester who was dressed like a priest and carrying a crucifix The power of Christ compels you Two men with signs were escorted from the room It is a federal crime to interrupt or delay a meeting of Congress Noem unfazed by the outburst continued with her opening comment TRUMP ADMIN REPORTS MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS REMOVED OR SELF-DEPORTED FROM US IN FIRST MONTHSIn response to several Democrat lawmakers who raised concerns about deportations Noem disclosed Congress had the power to change the picture if it craved to I think it's shameful to see the defense of individuals who break our laws Noem announced And that is what we are doing every day If you guys don't like the law go change it That's your job You don't complain According to figures published by the DHS on Wednesday the United States has deported million illegal immigrants under Noem s leadership