Kristi Noem’s history as a brutal puppy killer has come back to haunt her, this time in the House of Representatives.
The Secretary of Homeland Security’s graphic shooting of her puppy Cricket, which she wrote about in her 2024 memoir No Going Back, has now been added to the House record after Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) read from the book during a Judiciary Committee meeting on Tuesday.
The committee was discussing amendments to the Bill to Outlaw Wounding of Official Working Animals Act or BOWOW. The GOP want Noem’s department to amend the act so that an immigrant who has been convicted of harming an animal used in law enforcement can be deported.
The Republicans referenced an Egyptian man who pleaded guilty to “violently kicking” CBP agriculture detector dog Freddie at Washington Dulles International Airport in June. He returned to Egypt after paying the vet bill.
“He will never be allowed back in our country again,” GOP Rep. Tom McClintock said on Wednesday. “Unless, of course, another Joe Biden becomes president.”
He said the “simple bill” would mean “if you were convicted of harming a law enforcement animal, or you admit to doing so, while you were a guest of our country, you will immediately be expelled and never allowed to return.”
“Can’t we at least all agree,” McClintock said, “that kicking a five-year-old beagle at an airport should disqualify any foreign national from entering our country ever again?”
However Moskowitz was quick to point out the irony considering Noem’s personal history of animal cruelty.
In No Going Back, Noem admitted to shooting her 14-month-old puppy Cricket, claiming the female dog had an “aggressive personality.”
Moskowitz read aloud how Noem killed Cricket in the House.
Citing her book, he said “It starts: ‘I hated that dog… The dog, on the way home from a pheasant hunt, was untrainable, and it went to go attack the chickens. And, at that moment, I realized I had to put her down. So, I grabbed a gun and led Cricket to a gravel pit. It wasn’t a pleasant job, but it had to be done.”
Democrat Congressman Dan Goldman also introduced an amendment on Wednesday, suggesting the BOWOW Act be renamed the Kristi Noem Canine Protection Act, “to more accurately reflect the only documented case of extreme canine violence connected to top members of the GOP.”
“It is noteworthy that we are doubling down on deporting, arresting individuals who assault dogs in this case,” Goldman said. “And make no mistake, I am strongly against anyone assaulting dogs. But I really want to know how, if at all, it would apply to Cabinet members who have admitted that they have shot and killed a dog.”
He added, “This renaming, I think, would really capture the true essence of the bill, which is that we really don’t want anybody to kill dogs, especially the Secretary of Homeland Security.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Moskowitz said he and Golden were trying to remind their colleagues that “the secretary of Homeland Security also did not treat an animal in [the way] which we believe the animal should be treated.”
The GOP House Judiciary’s X account posted a photo of Freddie, who was in the House for the meeting, with the caption “Democrats don’t want to deport illegal aliens for kicking Freddie! SUPPORT AMERICAN DOGS!”
Noem referenced the shooting during an episode of MAGA podcast Pod Force One in September. She told host Miranda Devine the 20-year-old Cricket incident had been weaponized against her in campaigns but said she disclosed it in her memoir in order to be transparent about making “hard decisions.”
“I absolutely love animals, I’ve always had dogs, I still have a dog that goes everywhere with me, and that situation there was hard,” she said.
Noem also revealed to Devine that she had also killed a “disgusting, musky, rancid” male goat who “loved to chase” her kids and was “nasty and mean” because it had not been castrated.
The death of Cricket was referenced by South Park in August. At the end of the episode, the cartoon Noem goes on a shooting rampage in a pet store, firing off over 60 rounds, leading to puppy carnage.
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