Kristi Noem says DHS has not deported any veterans. A few seconds later, a fired war hero calls into the hearing

HE NEEDS TO KNOW

• Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem was questioned about a Purple Heart veteran deported by ICE during a Dec. 11 hearing

• Rep. Seth Magaziner brought veteran Sae Joon Park to audition for Zoom after he was deported to Korea earlier this year.

• Magaziner accused Noem of not knowing ‘the difference between good guys and bad guys’

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was challenged today during a hearing about her department’s controversial deportation practices.

Noem, 54, testified before the House on Thursday, Dec. 11, about threats to national security, where she was questioned by a representative about the Trump administration’s deportation of military veterans.

“Madam Secretary, how many US military veterans have you deported?” Rep. Seth Magaziner, a Democrat from Rhode Island, asked Noem during the hearing.

When she replied, “Sir, we have not deported American citizens or military veterans,” Magaziner began to express his respect for the military as a man sitting behind him stood up and brought over a tablet with a veteran calling into the hearing via video.

“As Americans, we owe everything to those who have served our country in uniform, especially those who have served in combat. Do you agree with that?” Magaziner asked.

Noem began to say, “Sir, I believe that people who are in the United States, who are citizens, have legal status here…” before Magaziner cut him off to introduce the video guest.

“Madam secretary, we are joined on Zoom by a gentleman named Sae Joon Park,” Magaziner said. “He is a combat veteran of the United States Army who was shot twice while serving our country in Panama in 1989.”

Magaziner said Park — a Purple Heart recipient — struggled with PTSD and substance abuse problems after his time in combat and was arrested in the 1990s for “minor drug offenses.” NPR previously reported that Park was charged with possession of a controlled substance and bail jumping while battling an addiction to crack cocaine.

Park has been sober for the past 14 years, the congressman told Noem, before saying, “Earlier this year, you deported him to Korea, a country he hasn’t lived in since he was 7 years old.”

Magaziner then asked Noem to join him to “thank Mr. Park for his service to our country.”

She responded by saying she was “grateful for every person who has served our country and obeys our laws and knows that our laws are important and every one of them must be enforced.”

When pressed to look into Park’s case, Noem said she would “absolutely” but added, “Our programs must also have integrity.”

Magaziner continued his questions when he introduced him to a Navy veteran named Jim Brown, who is married to a woman who came to the U.S. from Ireland and has lived in the country for 48 years, but has been in prison for the past four months.

“She did not come here illegally and has never committed a crime other than writing two bad checks totaling $80 ten years ago,” Magaziner said.

Noem argued that it’s not “my prerogative, my discretion, or my job to pick and choose which laws in this country are going to be enforced,” but Magaziner countered that she has “broad discretion” as DHS secretary. When asked, she said she would look into Brown’s wife’s case.

The congressman also introduced a veteran whose father, Narciso Barranco, had been targeted by immigration agents over the summer and punched in the head. He asked Noem to consider offering Barranco parole.

Magaziner went on to criticize Noem, telling her, “There are many problems with your leadership, but the biggest problem is this: You don’t seem to know how to tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys. Go after the bad guys, go after the terrorists, not the veterans, the Marines, the children, the citizens of the United States.”

Noem reportedly left the hearing early, according to The Hill and The Washington Post, claiming he had to attend another meeting that had been cancelled. Noem’s office told The Hill that the secretary learned the meeting was canceled after he left the witness table.

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Noem was criticized during her tenure at DHS for her attention-grabbing deportation tactics. Earlier this month, she told X that she had spoken with President Donald Trump about increasing travel bans.

Noem recommended a “total travel ban on every damn country that has flooded our nation with murderers, leeches and entitlement junkies.”

Her Dec. 1 post came shortly after Trump, 79, said his administration planned to “permanently halt” migration from “Third World Countries.” He did not identify the countries by name or clarify how he would implement the immigration pause.

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