From PBS NewsHour.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday whether the Border Patrol agent who shot a U.S. citizen in Chicago five times is still on the job, carrying a gun.
“I don’t know the details. I will find out and get that information to you,” Noem said in an oversight hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Border Patrol agent shot Marimar Martinez, a Chicago resident and teaching assistant, in her car in October. Homeland security officials attempted to pursue a felony charge against Martinez after the shooting, but their case fell apart when videos showed an agent steering his vehicle into hers.
Noem’s agency has been roiled by turmoil and public outcry in recent days. The shooting of two U.S. citizens by federal officers in Minneapolis prompted weeks of protests in the Twin Cities area. Trump officials, including Noem, accused the victims – Renee Good and Alex Pretti – of committing acts of “domestic terrorism.”
Like in Martinez’s case, bystander videos challenged the administration’s narrative of the high-profile shooting deaths, and documented DHS deploying other aggressive tactics. Greater scrutiny by Democrats into the ways the Trump administration has been carrying out his mass deportation agenda led to a lapse in the agency’s funding and partial government shutdown.
Congressional lawmakers have yet to reach a deal to fund the department, though there are areas of bipartisan agreement, such as a body camera requirement for immigration enforcement agents.
Noem will also field questions Wednesday from the House Judiciary Committee.
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