NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Greenland is hosting meetings with American officials at the end of a year in which U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up talk of a U.S. takeover of the mineral-rich island, which is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
The meetings Monday and Tuesday include those of a “joint committee” between Greenland and American officials, and a “permanent committee” that involves the Danish government, Greenland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Science said. Similar meetings were held last year in the United States.
Vivian Motzfeldt, who heads the ministry, said in a statement before the meetings that Greenland was “pleased" to host the talks as a way to ensure that the interests of Greenlanders and Americans were respected.
In a brief statement to reporters before the meeting, according to a translation of a report by Greenlandic publication Sermistiaq, she said that she wanted to emphasize that it was up to Greenlanders to choose their own future.
Kenneth Howery, the U.S. ambassador in Copenhagen, said that the “joint committee” relationship dates back more than a generation — but the friendship is far older, according to an email of his comments from the embassy.
“The United States values our friendship with Greenland, which goes back more than 80 years,” said Howery, who was joined by Brendan Hanrahan, a senior U.S. State Department official. “We respect the people of Greenland’s right to determine their future."
The Danish Foreign Ministry and the Greenland Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Science didn't immediately respond to emails from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Trump stirred concerns earlier this year in Greenland, Denmark and the European Union, which counts Denmark among its 27 member countries, by reviving talk of a U.S. takeover of Greenland after returning to office for his second term.
The issue had drifted off headlines in recent months, but in August, Danish officials summoned the U.S. ambassador following a report that at least three people with connections to Trump had carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.
Earlier this year, U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base on the island and accused Denmark of underinvesting there.
Trump has said that Greenland is crucial for U.S. security and hasn’t ruled out taking the island by military force, even though Denmark is a NATO ally of the U.S.
FILE - A plane carrying Donald Trump Jr. lands in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Emil Stach/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, file)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified in the Senate on Tuesday in her first congressional appearance since the shooting deaths of two protesters in Minneapolis galvanized widespread opposition to how the Trump administration was executing its mass deportation agenda.
Noem's appearance in front of the Judiciary Committee also comes after a weekend shooting at a bar in Texas that is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism, leading to concerns that the escalating conflict in Iran could have repercussions for security in the U.S.
Her department's immigration tactics triggered a clash in Congress over its routine funding, which remains unresolved, although a spending bill passed last year granted it a significant infusion of cash for the Republican administration's mass deportation policy.
Noem defended her agency’s treatment of immigrants caught up in enforcement activities, and blamed activists and others for attacks against officers. She also lashed out at Democrats for the congressional funding showdown.
“The latest Democrat-led shutdown of DHS is reckless,” Noem said. “It’s unnecessary, and it undermines the American national security, and it harms the men and women who work at DHS and their families.”
Noem last appeared in Congress in December. But since then, President Donald Trump's immigration agenda and its enforcement by Noem's department have met fierce resistance in Minnesota, culminating in the deaths of two protesters, both U.S. citizens, at the hands of federal immigration officers.
In what was initially billed as an effort to root out fraud in Minnesota, Homeland Security eventually sent hundreds of officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection to the state. They were met by protesters who organized marches, patrolled neighborhoods for ICE activity with whistles and ferried food to immigrants too afraid to leave their homes.
Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer on Jan. 7, setting off intense protests by Minnesota politicians and residents pushing for Homeland Security to end its operation in the state. Then on Jan. 24, Customs and Border Protection officers opened fire on another Minnesota resident, Alex Pretti, who had been filming enforcement operations.
Those deaths led to cries for accountability and transparency. Noem, whose initial comments portrayed both Good and Pretti as the aggressors, has come under withering criticism by Democrats and even some Republicans, who have called for her to resign.
After public outrage over the deaths, Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to take control of operations on the ground there. Homan has since announced a drawdown of the ICE and CBP officers who had been sent to Minnesota to carry out what had been dubbed Operation Metro Surge, although he's been adamant that the president's mass deportation agenda will continue.
Noem faced questioning from Democrats who say officers under her control have abused their power, used excessive force and violated people's constitutional rights in carrying the Trump administration's agenda.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee, repeatedly questioned Noem about comments she made immediately after the deaths of both Good and Pretti that cast them as the aggressors in the events leading up to their deaths. He called on her to apologize.
“You and your agency rushed to brand these victims as, quote, domestic terrorists," Durbin said. “We have ample video evidence and eyewitness testimony proving you are wrong. Your statements caused immeasurable pain to these families.”
Noem said she was relying on information from people on the scene and blamed “violent protesters” for contributing to the chaos officers encountered.
“I was getting reports from the ground from agents at the scene, and I would say that it was a chaotic scene, as you’ve seen in Minneapolis and St. Paul," she said. Her officers “worked at targeting the worst of the worst” and many times faced violence from protesters, she added.
Homeland Security has often blamed conflicts in places like Minneapolis and Chicago where it's carrying out immigration enforcement activities as the fault of Democratic politicians who they say encourage people to oppose officers as they try to make arrests.
Noem is also slated to appear Wednesday in front of a House committee.
Angel Moms, parents whose children have died because of illegal immigrants, listen as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appears for an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is sworn in before appearing for an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appears for an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appears for an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appears for an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is seen before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
