U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and his Democratic counterpart in the Senate, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), have referred President Donald Trump’s former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to the Department of Justice to investigate her for perjury.
While testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, Noem said DHS follows “all federal court orders” and that she was not aware “of any situations” where someone at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violated a court order or misled a federal judge. Noem’s claims contradict those of a Minnesota federal judge, who wrote in a Feb. 26 court order that ICE had violated 210 orders in 143 separate cases.
According to Raskin, one of the things Noem “lied about” was about her agency complying with court orders.
“She repeatedly restated that her department was complying with court orders and yet we have many judges who are enumerating all of the court orders that were violated.”
Yes, we’ve referred @Sec_Noem to the DOJ for perjury. Here’s why: pic.twitter.com/Qwmod9crzn
— Rep. Jamie Raskin (@RepRaskin) March 21, 2026
Raskin added: “And in fact the Department of Justice conceded that it had dishonored more than 50 different court orders. And the judges have been absolutely ballistic about it, saying that they’re not only lying in court but once the court orders come down, they’re disobeying them.” Raskin said of Noem, “She knew that and she lied about that. That wasn’t true.”
Sen. DURBIN: Kristi Noem sat at this table one week ago. She was removed as Secretary just 48 hours later. This is a national conversation about immigrants. Do we fear them? Or do we embrace them as part of America? I sure hope it’s the latter. pic.twitter.com/8oGOAWlW6O
— Senate Judiciary Democrats
(@JudiciaryDems) March 13, 2026
Note: The day after her testimony, President Trump announced that he was replacing Noem as Homeland Security Secretary (and nominated Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma), giving Noem a new title/job, Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.