North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has threatened to suspend legislative work unless the Department of Homeland Security answers questions about immigration enforcement in the state.
Senators question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during tense hearing
Kristi Noem is facing pointed questions from the Senate during a tense hearing about the number of DHS employees, the targets of immigrant arrests and the Minneapolis shooting investigation.
WASHINGTON – In some cases, all it takes is one influential lawmaker to significantly slow down proceedings in the U.S. Senate.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina made his findings known on March 3, when he harshly criticized Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem regarding her leadership of the Department of Homeland Security.
He said he asked her for more information about Operation Charlotte Web a month ago. This is an escalation of immigration enforcement that DHS launched in Charlotte late last year, resulting in hundreds of arrests. But he couldn’t understand them, he said.
Until they do so, the maverick Republicans said they will immediately suspend bloc nominations of U.S. senators appointed by President Donald Trump. And if he doesn’t get the answers he wants within two weeks, he vows to raise fees, including raising bills and postponing meetings of his influential committees.
Tillis later said on the Senate floor: “Until we get answers to these important questions, I will not make any nominations, no confirmations, no markups.”
The threat was a reminder of how even the slightest Republican criticism of the Trump administration can go a long way, especially in the Senate, as wars in the Middle East escalate and the Department of Homeland Security remains shut down.
For example, Tillis, who often leaves the party to criticize the White House, is perhaps the only lawmaker standing between the president’s whims and the Federal Reserve’s traditional independence. Mr. Tillis said he would block Mr. Trump’s nomination to head the central bank until the Trump administration concludes its investigation into current Federal Reserve Director Jerome Powell.
Tillis has also been a vocal critic of Noem, particularly after the killings of Alex Preti and Renee Good in Minnesota in January. Unlike many Republicans, he has called for her resignation.
DHS did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment in response to Tillis’ questions.
Zachary Schermele is a Congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can email us at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and on Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social..
