Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sharply criticized her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, in an interview released Wednesday on the podcast "Pod Force One," saying his policies opened the southern border to traffickers and undermined the department’s mission to secure the homeland.
"I don't know how he slept at night," Noem told host Miranda Devine, arguing Mayorkas allowed drug and human traffickers to enter the United States and took direction from the Biden White House. Noem said officials in the prior administration, including then–Vice President Kamala Harris in her role as a "border czar," failed to stop what she described as large-scale, dangerous flows across the border.
Noem reiterated allegations frequently raised by Republican critics of the Biden administration, saying the department during Mayorkas’ tenure did not pursue its core mission of securing the border. She repeated assertions about high numbers of migrants arriving during the prior administration and said the influx included criminals, known gang members and people on terror watchlists. Those claims echoed language used by House Republicans during Mayorkas’ impeachment process.
House Republicans impeached Mayorkas in February 2024, accusing him of willfully refusing to enforce federal immigration laws and of misleading Congress about the security of the border. The Democrat-controlled Senate later voted against holding an impeachment trial, and Mayorkas was not removed from office.
Noem also addressed the fate of unaccompanied migrant children who entered the United States during the prior administration, saying the department and its partners "knew children were going missing" and that some were victims of trafficking and abuse. Noem cited figures reported to the Department of Health and Human Services, saying at least 7,300 reports alleging trafficking of migrant children had not been investigated.
The podcast interview included criticism of how Border Patrol agents were treated publicly after a 2021 incident in which mounted agents in Texas were accused of using reins against Haitian migrants. Noem said she spent time with agents she described as "demonized" and that she had ridden with them to show support. Mayorkas and Vice President Harris had condemned the images at the time, with Mayorkas saying the country had "seen horrifying images" and Harris comparing the scene to historical injustices.
Noem told the podcast she wanted to make clear to agents that their previous leadership had left them unsupported and that she intended to help them resume law-enforcement duties. She said she witnessed what she described as repeated crossings of the same child with different groups of adults and called the situation inhumane.
The New York Post report that published the interview also cited post-2024 enforcement actions, saying the Trump administration has overseen deportations of more than 300,000 migrants and has processed cases involving thousands of children. The report stated that federal agencies, including HHS and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Refugee Resettlement, had received billions in grants and that allegations of trafficking, fraudulent sponsorships and other abuses have continued to be processed.
Noem’s remarks continue a broader partisan debate over U.S. border policy that has stretched across multiple administrations. Republicans have pressed for more restrictive enforcement and have highlighted criminal incidents and migrant-child welfare concerns. Democrats and immigration advocates have pushed for reforms to the asylum and immigration systems and have criticized rhetoric they say oversimplifies complex migration drivers.
Mayorkas has defended his record in public statements and congressional testimony, arguing that the department faced unprecedented challenges and legal constraints. The Senate’s decision not to proceed to trial after the House impeachment reflected the divided response in Congress and underscored how contentious border policy has become.
Noem’s interview places the internal disputes over border enforcement and public messaging back at the center of the national conversation, underscoring continuing friction between current and former officials over how to manage migration and protect children and communities along the border.
