From PBS NewsHour.
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing Tuesday if she’d station federal immigration agents at polling locations if requested by President Donald Trump.
Noem said there were no plans send U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polls and then turned the question on the senator.
“Are you planning on sending illegal aliens to vote?” Noem asked.
Noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare in the United States. It has been prohibited in federal elections for more than a century and is currently a crime that can lead to fines, imprisonment and deportation.
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.”
But 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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