Kristi Noem launches another infinite blabber when Goldman asked her about the legality of deporting asylum applicants
Every time you ask Kristi Noem a logical question, she blurts out “Biden.” At a House Homeland Security hearing this week, the DHS Secretary was asked a simple question about asylum law. But she ended up blaming Joe Biden, talking over the questioner, Goldman, and never answering.
During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on December 11, Rep. Dan Goldman attempted to get clarity from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on one narrow issue. Is it legal to deport people who have ongoing asylum applications? Not policy preferences. Not border rhetoric. Just the law.
Goldman started at square one. “Do you agree that asylum is a lawful pathway to immigrate to this country? Yes or no?” he asked. Noem reluctantly said yes, there is an asylum program. So, Goldman moved to step two and asked her, “So immigrants with ongoing asylum applications are legally in this country. Correct?” That’s where things began to fall apart.
Noem stalled, restarted her sentence, and danced around the phrasing until Goldman boxed her in again. “They are legally here because it’s a lawful pathway, right?” Noem agreed that “Asylum is a lawful pathway.” At this point, the logic chain was complete. So, Goldman asked her the real question:
“So if your department deports anyone with an ongoing asylum application, you are violating the law. Correct?”
It’s a simple, yes-or-no question. But instead of choosing between the two, Noem’s brain hit the Biden button. She immediately launched into a rambling monologue about Joe Biden, millions of cases, and a broken system. “Joe Biden left us with the biggest thing—” Noem began, but Goldman cut her off. “I’m not asking about Joe Biden. I’m asking you a specific question.”
But Noem continued speaking over Goldman while he repeatedly tried to square back to the actual question. At one point, she was speaking so continuously that her answer couldn’t even be transcribed. It was just overlapping noise as Goldman tried to reclaim control of his own question. Finally, exasperated, he said what everyone watching was already thinking.
“Why are you filibustering? Why can’t you answer the question? It’s a simple question.”
But Noem still wouldn’t answer the question. She never uttered the words “yes, that would be illegal.” So, Goldman eventually reclaimed his time and delivered the conclusion himself. If asylum is a lawful pathway, which Noem admitted, and if people with open asylum cases are legally present, which she also admitted, then deporting them violates the law. And according to Goldman, that is exactly what DHS is doing.
“Don’t tell us to change the law. If you don’t like the asylum system, you change the asylum law. Bring it to us. We’ll work with you. I think it needs to be changed. But you can’t just decide that you’re not going to follow the law and deport people who have ongoing applications.”
He then laid out how asylum seekers with open cases are being arrested at court appearances and shipped out/deported. The exchange was confusing, but it was more revealing. While Noem is blissfully oblivious to the ridiculousness of her interviews, people are not. Social media users quickly called out her whataboutism, arrogance, and lies, declaring, “whataboutism is an admission of guilt.”
Another summed up the whole exchange between Goldman and Noem perfectly:
Goldman absolutely dismantled Noem here. Every time he asked the same simple legal question, she ran to Biden, the border, the last administration — anything except the actual law. After three dodges, he finally said what everyone watching already knew: She won’t answer because the real answer is yes — deporting someone with an open asylum case is illegal. Goldman reclaimed his time and the moment, exposing exactly how Noem avoids the facts when they don’t fit her narrative.
And truth doesn’t get clearer than this. Every time Noem is asked to explain her administration’s actions, she doesn’t defend the law, but runs from it. She blames Biden. She filibusters. As one user puts it, the whole Trump administration seems to have “Biden Tourette’s.”
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