Four takeaways from the Homeland Security confirmation hearing

Kristi Noem, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), promised at her Senate confirmation hearing to lead a crackdown on immigration by securing the “war zone” on the US-Mexico border and deporting unauthorized migrants.

As secretary of the agency, Noem – currently governor of South Dakota – would oversee more than 260,000 federal employees and manage a $62bn (£48bn) budget.

DHS has an enormous mandate dealing with a wide range of issues related to national security, including disaster relief, domestic terrorism, and protect the President and other dignitaries.

But one theme that Noem returned to throughout his hearing was immigration.

In his opening statement to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Friday, Noem outlined his vision to “protect” the country.

“We must be vigilant and proactive and innovative to protect the homeland,” she told the committee.

“The challenges before us are extremely significant and we must secure our borders against illegal trade and immigration.”

She promised to keep Americans “safe and secure” by reforming the “broken and dysfunctional” federal department that oversees immigration-related agencies such as Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Noem pledged to end the use of CBP One, a mobile app currently required for US asylum applications.

She also said she would shut down parole processes that currently exist for Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan nationals and promised to restore the “Remain in Mexico” policy, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, which require certain migrants waiting in Mexico for their legal hearings in the United States.

Noem noted that as governor she deployed her state’s National Guard to Texas because of conditions there, which she described as a “war zone.”

Asked about domestic terrorist attacks, such as the one that took place in New Orleans New Year’s DayNoem said the intelligence agencies needed to work more closely together, while also turning back to the issue of immigration.

Democratic Sen. Gary Peters asked her what she would do to prevent domestic terrorism, noting that the New Orleans attacker was an American citizen.

Noem said domestic terrorist attacks are increasing, and claimed that US intelligence agencies have become “silos” by not cooperating to prevent these attacks.

“We also need to have interaction with the FBI, the CIA, to make sure that they work together to stop these types of threats and identify when they are growing among our citizens,” she said in quotes cited by Fox News.

DHS is tasked with overseeing emergency and disaster planning and relief through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).

Asked about recent comments by Trump in which he threatened to withhold federal relief funds for fire-ravaged California over disagreement with the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin NewsomNoem declined to say she would defy the president on issues of aid to states.

But she added, “Under my leadership of the Department of Homeland Security, there will be no political bias in how disaster relief is delivered to the American people.”

“I will deliver the programs according to the law and that it will be done without political bias.”

“Every American deserves to be there and have disaster relief, the same as their neighbors,” Noem added.

Claiming that some Fema employees “don’t show up” after natural disasters, she said she would create a “plan” for how the agency would respond to certain disasters.

Noem also promised to overhaul the Secret Service after the summer assassination of Trump, which saw a bullet fired by a sniper graze his ear in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“It must never happen again,” she said of the attack.

“The Secret Service needs dramatic reform,” she added.

Noem said the agency is understaffed and said she plans to refocus it on the core mission of “addressing national security incidents with the protocols that are necessary and protecting the individuals they are charged with.”

As she spoke, Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., wrote that his father was considering picking Sean Curran to be Secret Service director.

Curran currently heads Trump’s protective detail and was one of the agents who covered for him during the Butler shooting.