Mark Takano

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem must resign or be fired or impeached, several Inland Empire Congress members said Wednesday, during a news conference in which they also demanded reforms of federal immigration enforcement.

Reps. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino; Mark Takano, D-Riverside; and Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert; called for Noem’s ouster while speaking outside the San Bernardino office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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“Kristi Noem is the most unqualified and inept cabinet secretary that we have, and that’s saying a lot with this group,” Aguilar said.

ICE media representatives did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment. Neither did a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.

President Donald Trump campaigned promising widespread deportations of undocumented immigrants that he described as violent criminals threatening public safety. Republican lawmakers have accused Democrats of stoking division, fear and threats against immigration officers who are doing their jobs.

The Inland lawmakers’ remarks came four days after federal immigration agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti during a confrontation in Minneapolis, where ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents are conducting a sweeping illegal immigration crackdown denounced by critics as a violent, unlawful occupation.

According to media reports, Noem has told others she’s following the orders of Trump and Stephen Miller, the White House adviser seen as the architect of Trump’s deportation push.

Pretti’s death, which followed the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, sparked further outrage at Noem, whose agency oversees immigration enforcement. A chorus of Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have demanded that Noem step down.

“We have a strong and simple message for President Donald Trump,” said Aguilar, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus. “Remove Kristi Noem and reform ICE now.”

Noem “must be fired, or we will remove her through impeachment,” Aguilar warned.

Takano connected Pretti’s and Good’s deaths to what he described as a horrific pattern of immigration officers racially profiling people and detainees dying of abuse, neglect and poor medical care in federal immigration detention centers.

ICE, along with other immigration enforcement agencies, is “out of control, and we cannot pretend this is business as usual,” Takano said.

“Every American should be able to demand accountability without being branded a criminal or a domestic terrorist. And every American should be able to live their daily lives without carrying papers just to prove they belong.”

Ruiz came to the news conference from the ICE detention facility in Adelanto, where he said he was yet again illegally denied entry to observe conditions there.

“We are standing in a moment of profound crisis for our democracy and our shared humanity,” Ruiz said.

He added: “If they are brutalizing and killing individuals in open daylight in front of individuals who are observing and recording, what are they doing behind closed doors in these detention centers?”

Besides calling for Noem’s firing, Aguilar said Democrats are demanding an end to immigration crackdowns in Minnesota and Maine and the federal government to respect outside probes of Pretti’s and Good’s deaths.

They also want to bar federal immigration agents from wearing masks, more use-of-force training for those officers, requiring warrants for enforcement actions and a ban on deporting U.S. citizens.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Aguilar said. “We’ll accept nothing less.”

Absent from the lawmakers’ remarks was any mention of Miller. Aguilar said “people like” Miller and Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, who until recently oversaw the Minneapolis crackdown, “are harmful to our communities.”

“But Kristi Noem is the one who is accountable. She’s the head of the agency … They should all be gone. But Kristi Noem is at the top of the list.”

Democrats face barriers in their quest to oust Noem.

Republicans control Congress and commentators on the right argue removing Noem would make the president look weak.

Seven House Democrats joined Republicans in passing a federal spending bill that included ICE funding. But Aguilar noted that more than 200 Democrats, including party leadership, voted no.

“Look, we saw this coming,” Aguilar said. “We saw the death of Renee Good. We saw the lawlessness. We wanted to speak out and that’s how we could speak out.”