Capitol Hill Republicans are whispering nervously about whether Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem might be the first Cabinet member pushed out of President Donald Trump’s second term. They’re staring at the wrong target. The real question is whether they are the ones about to be shown the door.
The issue facing Republicans isn’t who runs DHS — it’s whether they’re willing to defend how Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents are doing their jobs. Their response will decide whether Trump’s agenda survives the November midterms or whether Democrats sweep into Congress with a new crop of radicals eager to shut everything down.
If that happens, it won’t matter who runs DHS. Democrats will try to impeach them anyway. The same people who defended Alejandro Mayorkas — a man who dodged responsibility and misled Congress — will suddenly rediscover outrage, simply because someone is actually enforcing immigration law.
They already are. Democrats are rolling out their familiar playbook: emotional sob stories, ignoring the dangerous criminals being arrested, and branding enforcement as a fascist attack on “our neighbors.” They’re betting Americans won’t notice the fine print — that being in the country illegally is still a crime.
And yet, enforcing that law is exactly why Republicans won big in 2024.
After four years of Biden’s border chaos, voters chose Trump because he promised order. Immigration wasn’t a side issue — it was the issue. Now some Republicans are acting like they’d rather talk about literally anything else.
Finger-wagging from senators like Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis, Susan Collins, and Bill Cassidy won’t win elections. Neither will lukewarm statements from Ted Budd, James Lankford, or Tommy Tuberville. Even Senate Majority Leader John Thune went soft after the shooting of an anti-ICE protester in Minneapolis, calling it a chance to “evaluate” procedures. Of course it is — but how about also saying the job still needs to be done?
Yes, the response to Alex Pretti’s death was clumsy. No argument there. But that doesn’t erase the reality that ICE is arresting child rapists and convicted murderers — even if the media refuses to notice.
Meanwhile, spineless Republicans are retreating from the very issue that got them elected.
If the GOP wants to win in November, they need to rediscover something called backbone. They must highlight every criminal that sanctuary states like Minnesota refuse to hand over. They must elevate the families harmed by Biden’s border disaster. And they must flood the public square with voices capable of explaining what the president is doing and why.
Because the truth is uncomfortable for Democrats: they want mass illegal immigration to prop up blue-state populations in places Americans are fleeing, like California and New York. That’s not compassion — that’s political math.
Law enforcement isn’t pretty. It’s messy. It can always improve. It must be restrained and professional.
But it must happen.
Borders exist for a reason. Without them, a country becomes a house with its doors wide open, inviting chaos inside.
Donald Trump is president because Americans rejected that vision. Republicans need to remember why they won — and have the courage to say it out loud.
If they do, voters will reward them. And this time, they won’t be guessing what side the GOP is on.
