Kristi Noem suffers collapse in confidence as just a third of Americans approve of DHS director
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has seen a dramatic loss of confidence amid her agency's deportation crackdown in Minnesota.
The latest Daily Mail/JL Partners poll, taken on Monday, finds that Noem has a paltry 33 percent approval rating.
Her disapproval rating has risen dramatically to 41 percent compared to 37 percent in December, per the last Daily Mail/ JL Partners survey.
Noem measured a 37 percent approval last month, meaning her support has fallen following the shooting of two anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis.
Spelling even more bad news for the secretary are the number of voters who say she should be removed from her post.
Nearly half of survey respondents, 46 percent, believe that Noem should be impeached. Further, 42 percent say President Donald Trump should fire her. The poll was conducted on January 26 and included over 1,000 registered voters. The margin of error is 3.1 percent.
Democrats in Congress have already begun circulating an impeachment resolution against Noem with more than 120 signatures. However, given the Republican control of both the House and the Senate, the liberal-led gambit seems unlikely to succeed.
Dissatisfaction with the Trump administration's deportation crackdown, ICE and CBP has increased since a Border Patrol agent shot and killed Minnesota nurse Alex Pretti, 37, an intensive care unit nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs, on Saturday.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has seen a dramatic loss of confidence amid her agency's deportation crackdown in Minnesota and the Border Patrol shooting of American nurse Alex Pretti on Saturday
Noem's rising dissaproval rating comes as Americans have increasingly lost confidence in Immigration and Customs Enforcement
According to the Daily Mail/ J.L. Partners poll taken on January 26, nearly half of survey respondents, 46 percent, believe that Noem should be impeached. Further, 42 percent say President Donald Trump should fire her
Departing the White House for a rally in Iowa on Tuesday afternoon, Trump told reporters that despite the controversy surrounding Noem, he is still happy with her performance and the secretary won't be stepping down.
Gruesome videos of his killing quickly went viral on social media, and many angles show that Pretti, who was armed with a handgun and magazines of ammunition, was disarmed by over half a dozen agents before he was shot around 10 times in the back.
Noem was quick to label Pretti a domestic terrorist, a title that Trump himself has not said, indicating his hesitance to support the secretary's account of the nurse's death.
Since the shooting, the president announced that Border Czar Tom Homan will take operational control of deportations in Minnesota.
Homan and Noem have reportedly not spoken much since they both joined the president's team, and sources have told the Daily Mail that their relationship - or rivalry - is tenuous.
The border czar, who has been in law enforcement since the 1980s, has preferred a crackdown on criminal illegal aliens.
Noem, by contrast, wants to pump overall deportation numbers and is said to be focusing on deporting anyone in the US illegally.
Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old nurse who was shot and killed by Border Patrol
Sources have told the Daily Mail that Noem wants to prioritize increasing overall deportations, and Border Patrol agent Greg Bovino (shown behind Noem) has enabled her approach. Late on Monday evening, following the Border Patrol shooting of Alex Pretti over the weekend, Bovino was reportedly stripped of his title and locked out of his social media accounts
Her approach, bolstered by her deputy and rumored lover, Cory Lewandowski, has put Noem at odds with Homan, ICE acting Director Todd Lyons and Border Patrol Commissioner Rodney Scott, sources have told the Daily Mail.
The schism has ruffled Republican feathers.
According to the January survey, almost one in four Republicans, 23 percent, view ICE unfavorably. Meanwhile, more than a quarter of GOP voters surveyed, 27 percent, were in favor of disbanding ICE altogether.
Additionally, close to one in five Republicans, 19 percent, say that ICE and CBP raids in major US cities should end, while 71 percent want them to continue, according to the poll.
Only 43 percent of Republicans say that Pretti’s killing was justified, while 35 percent were unsure and 22 percent said the shooting was unjustified.
GOP lawmakers have also expressed reticence about the deportation operations in Minnesota.
Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, suggested that Trump remove federal law enforcement from the state during a Sunday interview.
'If the mayor and the governor are going to put our ICE officials in harm's way, and there's a chance of losing more innocent lives or whatever, then maybe go to another city and let the people of Minneapolis decide do we want to continue to have all of these illegals,' Comer said.
On Monday, Trump had phone calls with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey - both of whom have offered sharp criticisms of the president.
In a dramatic reversal of the dueling sides' hostile tones, Trump posted on social media after the call with Walz, saying the two were on the 'same wavelength.'
After his call with Frey, Trump posted on social media that 'lots of progress is being made!'
The warm regards have come after bitter online feuds between the Minnesota Democrats and the Republican president, who suggested recently that both Walz and Frey were supporting an insurrection in the state.
