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.
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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)
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)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel stepped up airstrikes against Iranian missile launchers and factories Tuesday, and Iran retaliated across the Gulf region, disrupting energy supplies and travel. As explosions rang out in Tehran and in Lebanon — where Israel said it struck Hezbollah militants — the American embassy in Saudi Arabia came under drone attack.
Four days into a war that President Donald Trump suggested would last several weeks but perhaps longer, hundreds of people have been killed, the vast majority in Iran, where information has been limited because of poor communications, round-the-clock airstrikes and tight restrictions on journalists.
The spiraling nature of the war raised questions about when and how it would end. Trump seemed to leave open the possibility for more extensive U.S. military involvement, telling the New York Post on Monday that he was not ruling out the possibility of boots on the ground.
The administration has given various objectives. While the initial U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Trump urged Iranians to overthrow their government, senior administration officials have since said regime change was not the goal.
Trump said Monday the military campaign’s four objectives were to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its navy, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that it cannot continue to support allied armed groups.
Across Iran’s capital, explosions rang out throughout the night into Tuesday, with aircraft heard overhead.
The Israeli military said it conducted a wave of airstrikes on sites that produce and store ballistic missiles, in Tehran and Isfahan.
Strikes caused two explosions at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, Iranian state TV said, adding that no one was injured.
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site had sustained “some recent damage,” though there was “no radiological consequence expected.”
The U.S. hit Natanz during the 12-day war in June, when Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran's nuclear program.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained, however, that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” underground for making atomic bombs. He offered no evidence to support his claim.
Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to and says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two Iranian nuclear sites before the war. Analysts said Tehran was likely assessing damage from the 2025 strikes and possibly salvaging what remained.
A north Tehran resident has described growing fears in the capital as it comes under heavy bombardment.
Communications into Iran remain unstable with the internet largely blocked. The resident messaged The Associated Press before dawn on Tuesday. He spoke on the condition of anonymity.
He said a major blast had shaken his building on Monday. “I was by the window and felt the shock wave. Pretty scary, then saw the smoke,” he said.
Most stores in the normally bustling area of Tajrish were closed, he added. Iran has declared an official mourning period following the killing of Khamenei.
The resident said bakeries were open and supermarkets were stocked, but ATMs were mostly “out of cash.” Iran’s economy was already spiraling when the currency crashed to record lows in December.
An attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire,” according to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound. It followed an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. U.S. Embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon said they were closed to the public.
The U.S. State Department ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, the U.S. has urged citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, though with much of the airspace closed many remained stranded. Several other countries arranged evacuation flights for their citizens.
The U.S.-Israeli strikes have killed at least 787 people, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. In Israel, where Iranian missiles struck several locations, 11 people were killed. The Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah has also attacked Israel, whose retaliatory strikes killed 52 people in Lebanon.
The U.S. military has confirmed six deaths of American service members. In addition, three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Iran has hit many countries deemed safe havens in the Mideast in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli strikes. Recent targets included two Amazon data centers in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain. The centers in the UAE were hit, while a drone struck near the one Bahrain, causing damage, the company said.
Iran has also struck energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices soaring.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed,” declared Iranian Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, vowing that any ships that passed through it would be set on fire.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari vowed that Iranian attacks on the gas-rich country “will not go unanswered.”
As oil and natural gas prices climbed, stock prices fell sharply.
The conflict has spread to Lebanon, where Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, prompting Israel to retaliate.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military hit Beirut with more airstrikes and said it had moved additional troops into southern Lebanon and taken new positions on several strategic points close to the border.
The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon later said its peacekeepers saw Israeli troops going into and then out of Lebanon. But Israel’s army said its troops are still operating in Lebanon.
This story has been updated to correct that communications in Iran are poor, but that the internet isn't shut down. It also clarifies that that more than one drone hit the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia. Some instances referred to just one drone.
Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece, and Magdy from Cairo. Konstantin Toropin in Washington, David Rising in Bangkok, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Hallie Golden in Seattle, Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami, and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.
A firefighter extinguishes fire at a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A woman crosses almost deserted square with a billboard at rear showing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S.–Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
An Iranian flag is placed among the ruins of a police station struck Monday during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Jewish men covered in prayer shawls pray in an underground parking garage as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A group of men inspects the ruins of a police station struck Monday amid the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F-35C Lightning II preparing for launch on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Monday, March 2, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)
Mourners take cover while air-raid sirens warn of incoming missiles launched by Iran toward Israel during the funeral of Sarah Elimelech and her daughter Ronit who were killed in an Iranian missile attack, in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A worker instals a billboard on an overpass containing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke engulfs a street after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)
