Kristi Noem faces bipartisan backlash as Tillis breaks ranks and Miller backtracks amid DHS funding deadline

Kristi Noem is facing the most serious political threat of her tenure as homeland security secretary after two fatal shootings by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis this month triggered a rare pile-on from both parties. The fallout is now colliding with a high-stakes budget deadline in Congress, turning a public-safety crisis into a test of whether the White House can hold its line on immigration enforcement while lawmakers demand new guardrails.

Further specifics were not immediately available about the full internal timeline of decisions and communications inside the Department of Homeland Security in the hours before the most recent shooting.

Minneapolis shootings put Noem at the center of a widening accountability push

The flashpoint is the January 24 killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, during a confrontation involving federal agents amid heightened immigration operations in Minneapolis. The incident followed another fatal shooting earlier in the month involving a different federal officer. Together, the two deaths have become a rallying point for protests in Minnesota and a catalyst for lawmakers demanding answers about use-of-force policies, agent identification, and command decisions.

Noem has defended the department’s posture and initially portrayed Pretti as a threat, but public video and preliminary accounts have fueled disputes over how the encounter unfolded and whether the response was proportionate. Some specifics have not been publicly clarified, including whether Pretti discharged a firearm and the precise sequence of commands and physical contact immediately before shots were fired.

DHS has said the agents involved were placed on administrative leave, a standard step after a lethal incident, as federal reviews proceed.

Thom Tillis escalates pressure inside the GOP while Fetterman joins calls to remove Noem

The political rupture deepened when Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, publicly said he no longer has confidence in Noem and that she should leave her post. His stance is notable because it adds Republican pressure to what had been building rapidly on the Democratic side, where impeachment talk has moved from fringe to mainstream within the caucus.

On the other side of the aisle, Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who previously supported Noem’s confirmation, has urged President Donald Trump to fire her. That shift gives the removal push a bipartisan texture that is harder for the White House to dismiss as purely partisan theater.

Trump has defended Noem and signaled he does not intend to replace her, even as he has moved to adjust the federal posture in Minnesota by sending senior figures to manage tensions and review operations.

Steven Miller backtracks as the White House tries to narrow the political blast radius

White House deputy chief of staff Steven Miller, a leading architect of the administration’s immigration strategy, has also come under scrutiny for early messaging around the shooting. In the past day, Miller acknowledged that agents involved in the Pretti encounter may not have followed protocol, a notable shift that suggests the administration is trying to contain the damage while internal reviews play out.

That recalibration matters because it hints at competing imperatives: defending agents in the field while also signaling that rules and command discipline still apply. It also widens the target list for critics, including federal employee groups and civil-rights advocates who argue that accountability must extend beyond a single incident to broader operational strategy.

The reason for the initial public characterization of the shooting has not been stated publicly in a way that resolves the contradictions now driving the controversy.

DHS funding fight turns reform demands into a shutdown pressure point

The crisis is now entangled with the budget. Funding for large parts of the federal government is set to lapse at the end of Friday, January 30, 2026, with a shutdown clock that effectively hits at 12:01 a.m. ET Saturday if Congress does not act. Senate Democrats are pressing for immigration-enforcement reforms as a condition for approving the Homeland Security funding portion, including measures tied to masks, identification, body cameras, and limits on certain enforcement tactics.

Here is how the system typically works: Congress uses annual appropriations bills, or temporary extensions, to keep agencies funded. If funding expires, non-essential functions halt, employees can be furloughed, and agencies operate under contingency plans. Separately, accountability for a cabinet secretary can move through multiple channels: internal investigations and inspector general reviews, congressional oversight hearings and subpoenas, House impeachment votes and a Senate trial, or a presidential dismissal. Those tracks can run simultaneously, which is why the political temperature can rise faster than the fact-finding timeline.

The stakeholder impact is immediate for multiple groups. Minneapolis residents and local businesses are coping with protests, security disruptions, and uncertainty about the federal presence. Immigrant communities and their advocates report heightened fear and confusion around enforcement activity, while federal agents and DHS staff face intensified scrutiny, operational changes, and a public debate over safety protocols that can affect daily decision-making in the field.

Next up, lawmakers face two near-term milestones: a Senate funding vote and negotiations ahead of the January 30 deadline, and Noem’s scheduled appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 3, 2026, a hearing that could lock the controversy into a formal investigative record.