WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is set to testify this week at two separate congressional oversight hearings, her first time facing lawmakers since the fatal shooting of two Americans in Minnesota helped spark a funding showdown over the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement.

The hearings, Tuesday at the Senate Judiciary Committee and Wednesday at the House Judiciary Committee, take place as the Department of Homeland Security remains unfunded through the regular fiscal 2026 appropriations process.

Democrats are set to press Noem about immigration enforcement tactics they have demanded before agreeing to funding DHS, centered on increasing accountability for officer actions and reinforcing the rights of Americans when it comes to searches, arrests, protests and the use of force during those interactions.

But they have criticized DHS over a wide range of issues, such as treatment of migrants held in detention and policies that have curtailed legal immigration pathways. And some Republicans have criticized her for delays in dispersing federal disaster relief.

The start of U.S. military operations in Iran over the weekend has raised new questions about the potential for retaliatory attacks in the United States, including a mass shooting Sunday in Austin, Texas, that left two people dead and 14 injured, with evidence suggesting the shooter was expressing solidarity with Iran.

Noem leads a department that was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate efforts to protect the U.S. against terrorism. Many agencies within the department — including the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Security Administration and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — are caught up in the spending fight over immigration enforcement. That aggressive detention and deportation push has continued because of $170 billion included in last year’s reconciliation law for immigration enforcement.

Noem has faced calls to resign in the aftermath of two immigration agents killing U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, in part because she accused the citizens of committing domestic terrorism while video evidence appeared to contradict those claims. Among those who called Noem to step down are a handful of Republican lawmakers who have blamed her for turning a strong issue for their party into an albatross.

At least one Republican signaled he would aggressively question Noem. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who was among those who have called on Noem to resign, said he would seek to probe operations in Minneapolis.

“I’m going to get into the management strategy that led to the debacle of Minneapolis and the absolute destruction of a winning issue for President Trump and putting us on our heels on border security and immigration, an issue that he actually won on,” Tillis said. “She has managed through her incompetence to take that off the board for us, and we need to get it back on the boards.”

Other criticisms of Noem include an operation at a Hyundai plant in Georgia in September, when ICE detained hundreds of South Koreans, an enforcement action that Trump repudiated on social media when he said he doesn’t want to “frighten off or disincentivize Investment into America.”

Noem also reportedly awarded $220 million in no-bid contracts to a company tied to her for a DHS ad campaign, citing the emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border as the basis.

Some members of the Senate Judiciary Committee tipped their hand on policy areas they may explore with Noem. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a Republican on the panel who also chairs a Senate subcommittee on disaster management, said last week that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response in his state would be among topics for him.

“I want to make sure that, as it relates to FEMA, that St. Louis and the other areas of my state that have been hit by natural disasters in the last 10 months, that we continue to get the funds that we need to recover,” Hawley said.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., brought up testimony from an official who recently resigned from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The former official said his agency training standards had been become lax as the Trump administration has sought to boost recruitment and deployment.

“I’m putting together my questions right now, but among other things, why they are teaching ICE and (Customs and Border Protection) agents to violate the Fourth Amendment, break the law,” Blumenthal said on Thursday.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., also wouldn’t get into the details about his planned questioning, but he indicated the hearing would present an opportunity.

“This is going to be a great conversation that I’m not going to foreshadow,” Booker said. “ICE continues in a reckless, out-of-control manner that is hurting people, endangering lives, upending communities and even, as we have seen, taken the lives of the Americans.

“This is an agency that must stop. And I’ll do everything necessary to stop this agency from destroying communities and endangering people.”

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