Kristi Noem snaps back amid anger over her claim she’ll ensure the ‘right people’ elect the ‘right leaders’ in midterms

Homeland Security Secretary brushed off concerns about her assertion, claiming critics ‘manufactured outrage’ NewsWorldAmericasUS politicsKristi Noem snaps back amid anger over her claim she’ll ensure the ‘right people’ elect the ‘right leaders’ in midtermsHomeland Security Secretary brushed off concerns about her assertion, claiming critics ‘manufactured outrage’Ariana Baio Sunday 15 February 2026 22:25 GMTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popoverKristi Noem says she will ensure the 'right people' vote in midterms and elect 'the right leaders'Your support helps us to tell the storyRead moreSupport NowFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. 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We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreSecretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem doubled down on her assertion that her department assists in election security Sunday, telling critics that they were creating fake outrage after she asserted the “right people” would elect “the right leaders.”Over the weekend, lawmakers, democracy advocates and political commentators raised alarm bells at Noem’s claim that her department, which oversees domestic security and immigration, played a role in safeguarding elections “to make sure we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders.”But Noem brushed off those concerns, telling CNN anchor Jake Tapper and ABC News’s White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl: “It must be exhausting to regularly manufacture outrage even over the most commonsense statement.”The secretary insisted she was referring to preventing non-citizens from voting through election infrastructure. It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote.“The choice of who to vote for is obviously up to the voters themselves,” Noem said. open image in galleryNoem asserted her department, the Department of Homeland Security, played a role in overseeing election security (Getty)Democratic lawmakers had questioned whether Noem’s comment about electing “the right leaders was a suggestion that DHS could utilize its resources to force people to vote for certain candidates.“... she will make sure they vote for ‘the right leaders?’” Senator Mark Warner questioned.“This is Trump’s idea of democracy: leaders get to select their voters instead of the other way around,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote.Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear told CNN, “Kristi Noem’s statements are wild, and they are un-American.”When asked by CNN what Noem meant by “electing the right leaders,” even Border Czar Tom Homan said, “I don’t know.”Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for DHS, echoed Noem’s statement, saying, “Oh please, stop with the faux outrage.”“The Secretary’s obvious point is that we need an election infrastructure to enable eligible American citizens to vote securely and conveniently and prevent non-citizens, including illegal aliens, from voting… Who people vote and deem ‘right’ is of course up to the voters themselves,” McLaughlin said.open image in galleryAdministration officials have claimed more election infrastructure is needed to prevent non-citizens from voting, despite evidence showing instances of non-citizens voting are rare (Getty Images)Noem also asked Tapper and Karl: “Do you actually support allowing people who are in this country illegally to vote in our elections?”President Donald Trump’s allies have often repeated the unproven claim that a large number of non-citizens vote in U.S. federal elections. The claim comes from a series of falsehoods that Trump has made to dispute the fact that he lost the 2020 presidential election to former President Joe Biden. After conducting a review of non-citizen voting allegations, the Center for Election Integrity and Innovation found that cases of non-citizens voting were “rare” and there was no evidence to support sweeping claims suggesting otherwise. But Noem, other cabinet members and Republican lawmakers have been focused on narrowing voter eligibility to make it harder for people to vote. Rumors have swirled that the administration will deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to polling stations in the midterms to check for noncitizens. “To have ICE agents, these thugs, be by the polling places. That just flies in the face of how democracy works,” Schumer told CNN Sunday, calli