Tense exchanges with Homeland Security Secretary Noem dominate at Garbarino's first big hearing

WASHINGTON — A circus roared around Long Island Rep. Andrew Garbarino Thursday, as members of a committee he leads sparred with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem until she abruptly got up and walked out.

It was the first appearance of a Trump administration official before the House Homeland Security Committee since Garbarino took over in July, and some members spent most of their time calling Noem a liar or demanding her resignation. Others proposed that she should be fired or impeached.

Then Noem suddenly told Garbarino and other panel members that she had a meeting elsewhere — though it later turned out the other meeting had been canceled.

"I have to actually leave this hearing early," Noem said after more than 90 minutes of questioning that saw her repeatedly talk over — and be talked over by — the lawmakers.

Noem said she had to attend a meeting of a council reviewing potential changes at the troubled Federal Emergency Management Agency. Panel Democrats, after learning that meeting actually had been canceled, moved to subpoena Noem to return.

But Garbarino and other Republicans blocked that motion by tabling it.

"Look, would I have loved her to stay? Absolutely," Garbarino said in an interview later. But he said he was not upset with Noem's earlier departure and that the meeting she was intending to attend was important, including to Long Islanders.

A statement from the Department of Homeland Security said Noem was not aware the FEMA meeting had been canceled when she got up and left.

Tense atmosphere

Garbarino (R-Bayport) called for decorum at the start of Noem's much-anticipated appearance. "I will enforce the rules," Garbarino said.

But members of the committee — particularly Democrats — had waited months for a chance to grill Noem on the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement and deportation tactics.

Mostly, Garbarino allowed the angry exchanges between lawmakers and Noem to go uninterrupted. Occasionally, he would step in or respond when asked for a point of order.

There were theatrics throughout.

At one point, a protester suddenly stood up from the audience dressed as a Catholic cardinal and began yelling, "End Deportations! The Power of Christ compels you!"

Garbarino had that person escorted out, robes and all.

Moments earlier, however, no action was taken as Noem arrived to people in the audience humming the ominous Darth Vader "Imperial March" theme from Star Wars.

Once the hearing started, the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) almost immediately started calling for Noem’s resignation. Thompson described her work as DHS secretary as making the country less safe and questioned which administration, for instance, approved asylum for the alleged shooter of the two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. last month.

During their exchange, Thompson initially referred to the shooting as an "unfortunate accident," prompting Noem to respond, "It was a terrorist attack. They shot our Guardsman in the head." Thompson later called it an "unfortunate situation."

As the two continued to talk over each other, the new chairman was asked for a point of order, and he then settled things down.

But that was just the beginning of a string of t ense back and forth exchanges between the secretary and panel Democrats, several of whom alleged that her department was engaged in illegal detentions and other immigration enforcement overreaches. 

Proposed NYC cuts

Garbarino himself questioned Noem about a proposal in September that would have cut Homeland Security counterterrorism grant allocations for New York City by 80%.

"Considering New York was a top terror target for terrorism, this was surprising," Garbarino said, noting President Donald Trump ultimately restored that grant funding. But Garbarino wanted to understand why, from Noem, this even happened.

"New York City at the time of the allocation still had over $440 million in reserve that was available to them to utilize," Noem said. "So the intention of these grants is that communities and cities will use these to build up the security measure they need for a long-term impact."

Noem added, "When we’re looking at cities that have hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves we recognize that giving them millions of dollars more may not be appropriate considering all the threats that we have."

But she acknowledged that Trump did decide to send more resources to New York City.

Garbarino said the committee was able to learn other important information at the hearing, which was to focus on worldwide threats, including that there are 17,000 known or suspected terrorists in the country that federal authorities are trying to find. "That was higher that I thought it was," he said.

Surprise exit

Other members of the committee had said they wanted to question Noem deeper than they were able to about ongoing problems at FEMA. But she left the hearing, claiming that addressing those issues was the reason for doing so.

"I have to actually leave this hearing early, because the FEMA Review Council is giving their report today on suggestions for changes to FEMA. I have to co-chair it, but I will be leaving soon to have to go do that," Noem said.

That apparently was not an arrangement Garbarino and the committee had officially agreed to. He had noted earlier the committee had made no commitment for a "hard" ending time to the hearing.

When word came that the other meeting claimed by Noem had actually been canceled, Thompson moved to subpoena Noem to reappear, suggesting she may have intentionally misled the committee.

"There was no need for her to go," Thompson said. He said Noem showed "no respect for congressional oversight" and instead walked out and left the committee "to pound sand."