{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pingree.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6721", "Pingree Statement on Firing of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem", "2026-03-05", "2026", "2026-03", "Democrat", "House", "ME", "Chellie Pingree", "P000597", "pingree.house.gov", "pingree", "https://pingree.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) released the following statement on the firing of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem:\n\nKristi Noem\u2019s firing was long overdue. Her tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security will be remembered as one of the most corrupt, reckless, and disgraceful chapters in the department\u2019s history.\n\nUnder Noem\u2019s leadership, DHS abandoned its core mission of protecting the American people and instead became a political weapon. Families were torn apart. Communities\u2014including in Maine\u2014were terrorized by violent enforcement tactics. Lawful residents and American citizens were swept up in operations that too often operated outside the bounds of accountability and basic decency. At the same time, Noem treated the department as a vehicle for her own self-promotion and political ambitions, relying on cynical PR stunts and constant misinformation to obscure the damage being done.\n\nThe consequences of that leadership have been devastating. Americans were killed in the streets while DHS leadership deflected responsibility and doubled down on cruelty. Entire communities were traumatized by policies designed to intimidate rather than protect. The bloodshed and chaos that occurred under her watch demands far more than a quiet exit from office.\n\nWhoever is in charge of DHS next\u2014whether it\u2019s Senator Markwayne Mullin or someone else\u2014will inherit an agency in urgent need of reform. Nowhere is that clearer than at ICE, which has been empowered and emboldened by the staggering $170 billion it received through the Big Ugly Bill. That funding is already being used to expand mass surveillance, ramp up aggressive enforcement operations, and deploy poorly trained, unaccountable agents into communities across the country.\n\nKristi Noem needed to go. But let\u2019s not forget the real architect behind the Administration\u2019s cruel and dangerous immigration policy: Stephen Miller. He needs to be fired next.\n\nThis action does not move the needle, for me, on funding DHS. We must confront the abuses that occurred under Noem, demand transparency from this administration, and pursue reforms that ensure our immigration system respects the law, protects civil liberties, and treats people with basic humanity. No department entrusted with this much power can be allowed to operate without meaningful accountability ever again.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://pingree.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6721"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2299278751015663, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}