Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tore into her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, for opening the U.S.-Mexico border to drug smugglers and human traffickers.
While in Chicago for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, Noem spoke with the New York Post's Miranda Devine on the "Pod Force One" podcast.
Devine suggested Mayorkas was "probably the most militant ideologue" in the Biden administration.
"I don't know how he slept at night," Noem said. "I don't know how he slept at night knowing the vulnerabilities he was creating for this country and the people he was letting in and allowing to undo us."
Border crossings set all-time records and more than 8 million migrants entered the U.S. under then-President Joe Biden, the Post reported. The aliens included criminals, known gang members, and hundreds of others on terror watch lists.
Noem said Mayorkas likely was "told" by the Biden White House what to do at the border.
"I think one of the biggest disservices they did to the country was not fulfill the mission of what the department was established for; it literally is to secure the homeland," Noem said.
"And he [Mayorkas] opened the doors and said, 'Come on in. If you are from an evil foreign government or a terrorist organization or a gang, you're more than welcome, and we're going to ignore our laws and treat you better than we do the American citizens.'"
The U.S. House voted in February to impeach Mayorkas, with the Republican majority determined to punish the Biden administration over its handling of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Nearly all members of the Senate Republican Conference demanded that then-Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., move forward with a full impeachment trial, but Democrats dismissed both charges of illegal conduct by Mayorkas.
"They didn't even try [to close the border]," Noem told Devine. "Knowing you are doing nothing and watching, if you watched, the inhumanity of what was happening at the border.
"We knew children were going missing. We knew they were raping our girls at the border and trafficking our little boys. And they knew all that was going on and watched the same child cross the border over and over again with a different group of adults and they just went to bed at night. ... As a mom and a grandma, that's the stuff I just, I don't know how they did that."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.