During the appearance of Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, before the House Appropriations Committee, it was reported that the Trump administration has apprehended approximately 65,000 migrants with criminal records since January 20. Noem emphasized that the Mexican government has been more proactive in containing migrants thanks to President Trump's "strong leadership."
According to Noem, around 500,000 to 600,000 illegal immigrants decided not to attempt to cross the border into the United States after arriving in Mexico and learning that it was closed. She pointed out that diplomatic relations with Mexico have been strengthened to address this issue effectively.
In response to the budget request presented by Noem, an increase in funding of $500 million was requested for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to fund 50,000 beds in detention centers, as well as more than $750 million for surveillance and border detection technology, among other allocations.
During the hearing, Democratic Mexican-American Congresswoman from Texas, Verónica Escobar, questioned Noem about the right to "due process" established by the Constitution of the United States for all people in the country, regardless of their immigration status, and whether any U.S. citizens had been deported. Noem assured that no U.S. citizen had been deported.
One point of conflict arose in the case of two undocumented Honduran mothers who were deported along with their U.S. citizen children. Noem admitted that she did not have information on whether the women had signed an official form that authorities must provide to ensure that deported parents agree to take their citizen children with them, but she committed to providing that clarifying information.
