Congressional Democrats are demanding former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem be criminally prosecuted for perjury.
The Trump administration dismissed the move Monday as a political stunt.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrats on their respective chamber’s Judiciary Committees, sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday referring Noem to the Department of Justice for investigation. The letter accused Noem of repeatedly lying to Congress during back-to-back hearings before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees on March 3 and 4.
“We write to refer evidence showing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem repeatedly misled the Senate Committee on the Judiciary during her testimony on March 3, 2026, and the House Committee on the Judiciary during her testimony on March 4, 2026,” Durbin and Raskin wrote. “A number of her statements appear to violate criminal statutes prohibiting perjury and knowingly making false statements to Congress.”
The Democrats said four of Noem’s claim were false: whether DHS complied with federal court orders, the contracting process behind a $220 million DHS advertising campaign, whether ICE had detained U.S. citizens, and the role of Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski at the department.
The Trump administration fired back immediately. A DHS spokesperson said in a statement that “any claim that Secretary Noem committed perjury is categorically FALSE.”
The DOJ called the referral “the latest political stunt from the Democrats who should instead vote to reopen the Department of Homeland Security.”
The Democrats acknowledged outright that they do not expect Bondi’s DOJ to act on the referral. “While we have low expectations that you will pursue this matter given your partisan weaponization of the Department of Justice, we note that the statute of limitations for perjury and for knowingly and willfully making false statements to Congress is five years,” they wrote — a signal the referral is as much about the future as the present.
Trump fired Noem the day after her congressional testimony concluded. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., has been nominated to replace her as DHS secretary.