May 11, 2025

U.S. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, the Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, blasted Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, saying that her department is "out of control." Murphy called Noem out for her "abhorrent" treatment of immigrants, her flagrant spending, disappearing people, and ignoring money that was appropriated by Congress.

“I say this with seriousness and respect, but your department is out of control,” Murphy said. “You are spending like you don’t have a budget. You are on the verge of running out of money for the fiscal year. You are illegally refusing to spend funds that have been authorized by this Congress and appropriated by this committee."

"You are ignoring the immigration laws of this nation, implementing a brand-new immigration system that you have invented that has little relation to the statutes that you are required – that you are commanded – to follow as spelled out in your oath of office," he continued. "You are routinely violating the rights of immigrants who may not be citizens, but whether you like it or not, have constitutional and statutory rights when they reside in the United States."

"Your agency acts as if laws don’t matter, as if the election gave you some mandate to violate the Constitution and the laws passed by this Congress," the Connecticut Democrat said. "It did not give you that mandate. You act as if your disagreement with the law – or even the public's disagreement with the law – is relevant and gives you the ability to create your own law. It does not give you that ability.”

He kept ripping her as she had to sit there and take it while batting her eyes.

“You're on track to trigger the Anti-Deficiency Act," he said. "That means you are going to spend more money than you have been allocated by Congress. This is a rare occurrence, and it is wildly illegal."

"Your agency will be broke by July, over two months before the end of the fiscal year," he continued. "You may not think that Congress has provided enough money to ICE, but the Constitution and the federal law doesn’t allow you to spend more money than you've been given, or to invent money. And this obsession with spending at the border, as the Chairwoman mentioned, has left the country unprotected elsewhere."

"The security threats to the United States are higher, not lower, than before Trump came to office. To fund the border, you have illegally gutted spending for cybersecurity," he said. "As we speak, Russian and Chinese hackers are having a field day attacking our nation. You have withdrawn funds for disaster prevention. Storms are going to kill more people in this country because of your illegal withholding of these funds. Your myopia about the border, fueled by President Trump's prejudice against people who speak a different language, has shattered many of this country's most important defenses."

Murphy ran out of fucks to give as he tore into the Trump administration.

“When Congress appropriates funds for a specific purpose, the administration has no discretion as to whether to spend or not spend that money, unless you go through a very specific process with this committee," Murphy said. "Let me give you two of many instances of this illegal impoundment. The first is a shelter and services program. Senator Britt may want to zero that account out, but that account is funded, and it was funded in a bipartisan way."

"You don't like the program. Your policy is to treat migrants badly. I think that's abhorrent, but it doesn't matter that you don't like the program," he continued. "You cannot cancel spending in this program, and you cannot use the funds, as you have, to fund other things, like ICE."

"You have also canceled citizenship and integration grants, which help lawful, permanent residents become citizens, helping them take the citizenship test," he said. "I know your goal is to try to make life as hard as possible for immigrants, but that goal is not broadly shared by the American public. That’s why Congress, in a bipartisan way, for decades, has funded this program to help immigrants in this country become citizens."

“Finally, let's talk about these disappearances," Murphy said. "In an autocratic society, people whom the regime does not like, or people who are protesting the regime, they are just often picked up off the street, spirited away, sometimes to open-ended detention, sometimes they are never seen again. What you are doing, both to individuals who have legal rights to stay here, like Kilmar Abrego Garcia, or students, who are just protesting Trump’s policies, is immoral."

"And to follow the theme, it is illegal. You have no right to deport a student visa holder with no due process simply because they have spoken in a way that offends the President. You cannot remove migrants who a court has given humanitarian protection from removal," he continued. "Now, reports suggest that you're planning to remove immigrants with no due process and send them to prisons in Libya. Libya is in the middle of a civil war. It is subject to a level four travel advisory, meaning we tell American citizens never to travel to Libya. We don't have an embassy there, because it is not safe for our diplomats. Sending migrants with pending asylum claims into a war zone just because it's cruel is so deeply disturbing.”

"We, as an appropriations committee, we work interminable hours to write and pass a budget," he added. "This budget is really hard to write and pass. And so we make ourselves irrelevant when we allow the administration to ignore what we have decided. And then, when we look the other way when the administration rounds up immigrants who are here illegally and have committed no offenses worthy of detainment, we also do potential, irreversible damage to the Constitution. These should not be partisan concerns. Destroying the power of Congress, eroding individuals' constitutional rights – this should matter to both parties."

You would think it would matter to both parties, but Republicans are cool with this shit show we're witnessing from Donald's kakistocracy, and Noem is a big part of the problem. She won't stop until her actions start affecting Trump supporters, and that's already happening, but it's going to get worse.

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