Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem denied under oath on Thursday that her department was deporting veterans, only to be called out in real time.
The top Trump official was appearing before the House Homeland Security Committee when she went head-to-head with Democratic Rep. Seth Magaziner.
“How many United States military veterans have you deported?” the Rhode Island lawmaker asked.
“Sir, we have not deported U.S. citizens or military veterans,” Noem said.
Magaziner said that the two could probably agree that they owe everything to those who have served. That’s when his staffer stood up next the lawmaker at the hearing and held up a tablet with a man on it.
“Madame secretary, we are joined on Zoom by a gentleman named Sae Joon Park,” Magaziner said. “He’s a United States Army combat veteran who was shot twice while serving our country in Panama in 1989.”
Magaziner noted that Park has suffered from PTSD and substance abuse following his service and said he was arrested in the 1990s for some “minor drug offenses.”
“He never hurt anyone besides himself, and he’s been clean and sober for 14 years,” the lawmaker said. “He’s a combat veteran, a Purple Heart recipient. He has sacrificed for this country more than most people ever had.”
The Democratic lawmaker told Noem that earlier this year, the DHS deported Park to Korea, a country he has not lived in since he was 7-years-old, and asked the secretary to tell the veteran to his face why he was deported.
“You understand that many veterans struggle with PTSD. Many veterans struggle with substance abuse challenges,” Magaziner said. “This man took two bullets for our country.”
The lawmaker argued that Noem had broad authority and asked her to commit to looking into Park’s case to find a path back to the U.S.
“I will absolutely look at his case,” she responded.
Park’s case has been raised by multiple Democratic lawmakers in recent months after he was told during his most recent check-in with immigration officials in June that he would be detained if he did not self-deport. The Hawaii resident left behind two children and his mother after nearly 50 years in the U.S. and has been seeking a way to return home since.
Park was not the only veteran affected by the Trump administration’s immigration policy raised at the hearing.
Several Democrats pointed out the attendance of veterans with family members who have been caught in the crosshairs of Trump’s immigration crackdown. As they mentioned cases, they asked attendees to stand up so the secretary could see them.
Magaziner noted that one man in the crowd at the hearing was Jim Brown, a combat veteran from Missouri, whose wife, Donna Hughes-Brown, was arrested by ICE.
Despite coming to the U.S. legally, being a green card holder and married to a U.S. citizen, she was taken into custody while returning from Ireland at Chicago O’Hare International Airport in July over bad checks totaling $80 a decade ago.
Noem pushed back when confronted about the case, saying it was not her job to pick and choose which laws to enforce.
“We need to follow the law and enforce the laws,” she insisted before committing to reviewing the case.
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