The following is the transcript of an interview with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on March 9, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We begin this morning with the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. Madam Secretary, good to have you in person. Thank you for joining us.
SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY KRISTI NOEM: Good morning. Thank you for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to dive right into this trade war. The justification President Trump invoked these tariffs under had to do with fentanyl. Mexico’s president said Thursday that Customs and Border Protection figures show seizures of fentanyl on the southern border have dropped over the past year. She claimed they plummeted 75% in the past six months. Doesn’t that show the existing system is working?
10:32:23
SECRETARY NOEM: We’ve seen incredible progress as far as what we’ve been able to stop at the southern border since President Trump has taken office. And I think that progress can be built on. These partnerships that we have in going after traffickers, cartels, the drug trade, and also human trafficking, can be even stronger and built on in the future. That’s one of the things we’ve been asking for, in specific to the Mexican government, is how can we work better together to make sure we not only have the enforcement mission at the border, but south of the border and make sure we’re going after these cartels. You’ve seen the President name them as terrorist organizations. And Canada, just recently, is starting to allow us to access some of their criminal background histories that we need in order to know who’s coming across our border and what they’re bringing. So, because of his strong stance on tariffs, we’re seeing them wanting to be better partners with us to keep our people safe.
10:33:16
MARGARET BRENNAN: So Canada’s Prime Minister said it’s totally false to claim Canada is unwilling to fight fentanyl. You just indicated they’re willing to do more here. He pointed to CBP data that showed a 97% drop in fentanyl seizures from January compared to December, a near zero low, he said.
SECRETARY NOEM: Yeah we’re–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –is the data accurate?
10:33:36
SECRETARY NOEM: The data is getting better. And I would say in the conversations that I’ve had this week with Canadian officials, they were hoping to avoid the tariffs, and had a lot of conversations, but not a lot of action. So this is the hope, is that the fact that President Trump has said something and now has enforced consequences, we really are hoping for even better partnerships. We need access to their criminal background system so that we know when someone crosses that northern border who they are, why they’re in our country, and who they may be partnering with. We also need them to work with us on identifying packages, technology investments. Canada has said they will do that. We just want to see them actually do it. In the past, promises have been made by both Mexico and Canada that they didn’t follow through on. Their naming of a fentanyl czar in Canada is important. That’s great. Now let’s see really what happens. President Trump has been strong, and I think that’s why you’ve seen the data going our direction, but boy, every day people in this country are dying of overdoses, and I don’t want any more families to have to deal with that tragedy if we can be- if it can be avoided and we can have a stronger relationship.
10:34:43
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you just gave specific examples of what Canada and Mexico can do, presumably, to avoid the tariffs that are now being pushed off until April 2. The Commerce Secretary said on another network, if fentanyl ends, I think these will come off, but if fentanyl does not end, or he’s uncertain about it, meaning the president, they will stay on until he’s comfortable. Is it that general, or are these very specific things that you can kind of go through and check to avoid these tariffs.
10:35:11
SECRETARY NOEM: I’ve had very specific conversations with Canadian officials and Mexican officials on what they can do so they know what they can do to help avoid tariffs in the future, and what we’re expecting of them. If they do it, we shall see. We all recognize that each one of these leaders has political environments in their home countries as well, but President Trump means business, and he meant it when he ran to be President of the United States again, and since he’s taken office, that he will put America first. And every day in this country, we have seen over the last several years, violence and unsafe streets and cities and people lose their children and grandchildren, and he’s taking action to make sure that we’re cleaning up the mess that Joe Biden left behind, and that we have a much safer country and where Americans can look forward to the future.
10:36:01
MARGARET BRENNAN: So this is not just leverage to get a better free trade deal. This is not just because President Trump truly believes that tariffs are the heart of his economic policy?
SECRETARY NOEM: Right.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re saying this really is about fentanyl?
10:36:12
SECRETARY NOEM: It really is about fentanyl. It really is. And I think the President obviously wants a strong economy, obviously wants better trade deals as well. But this is about fentanyl and what we can do to stop the cartels from partnering with Chinese officials, laundering money and bringing a poison into our country that is specifically designed to kill the next generation. I think a lot of people don’t understand the strategy of these enemies of the United States and what they’re utilizing. They are bringing this in, not just to make money, they’re bringing it in here to kill Americans. And it’s time that we stand up for the people that live here and make sure that we’re stopping this war against our children.
10:36:47
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you, border crossings, they’re at a 25 year low.
SECRETARY NOEM: They are. It’s fantastic.
MARGARET BRENNAN: There are 6,000 US military personnel working at the border now, that number could go up to 9,000 by the end of the month. How long do you have to keep them there if the numbers are already dropping like this?
10:37:02
SECRETARY NOEM: You know, we’ll continue the partnership with the Department of Defense, but also we’ve got partnerships with Commerce, with the Attorney General’s office, you know, we’re working every day with the Secretary of State. We’ll keep them there until that border is completely secure, and we see all time record lows of encounters. Our border patrol is doing fantastic work, but we’re going to keep them there until the whole world gets the message that this isn’t Joe Biden’s world anymore. This is President Donald Trump’s country where we have a border, where we have laws and it applies equally to everybody. I think that is what is so refreshing, is that we’re not picking and choosing winners and losers anymore. Americans have to live by the law, so do those who come to this country. You have to come here legally, or there will be consequences.
10:37:49
MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me ask you about what’s happening internally when it comes to, excuse me, migration. The administration has revived this policy of detaining migrant families, parents with children in ICE detention centers. Bush did it, Obama did it, Biden did not. Have you seen these Texas facilities where children are being held with their parents? Are you comfortable with it personally?
10:38:10
SECRETARY NOEM: We’ve got detention facilities across the country, and there’s specific ones that are built specifically for families if they are detained. But remember, everybody has an option. They have an option to be here legally or illegally, and they can self-deport as well. We’ve set up a system and a website where people who are here illegally right now can register, and they can choose to go home on their own and keep their families united.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The kids don’t really have a choice in this–
SECRETARY NOEM: Well, the kids do have a choice. If they have parents, they make a choice to keep their families together, if they want to or not. They- if parents make a decision to leave their children behind, then that’s a choice that they made as a family. And we need to remember that when Americans break the law and they have consequences or face a situation, they’re separated from their families, too. I don’t believe we should prioritize people from other countries above Americans.
10:38:59
MARGARET BRENNAN: But when it comes to reviving the policy of separating families from their children at the border–
10:39:04
SECRETARY NOEM: I don’t know that we’re actually reviving it–
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s what I want to ask you–
SECRETARY NOEM: –President Biden didn’t follow the law.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You won’t?
SECRETARY NOEM: He didn’t follow the law in the fact that it’s always been equally applied until his administration, and then he made decisions to ignore federal law in how he handled immigration and enforcement within our borders. And so today, we’re- we’re expanding our team at ICE, and we’re going to have an acting director in Todd Lyons, who has a long history with Tom Homan, they have worked together to build on these enforcement operations. We’re also naming a deputy secretary in Madison Sheahan, that was going to be another expansion of this team. They have done incredible work cleaning up our communities and making them safer. Adding more people to the team, with Todd and with Madison, is going to allow us to partner with local law enforcement officials to make sure that we truly are following through on enforcing the law, and if you break our law, then there’s going to be consequences.
10:39:58
MARGARET BRENNAN: You want the number of deportations to tick up?
10:40:01
SECRETARY NOEM: I do. Absolutely.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So–
SECRETARY NOEM: People- remember, they have an option to go home on their own. We are giving them that opportunity to do that, and we will help facilitate that. And if they don’t, and they end up coming into our enforcement opportunities that we have in front of us, you know, they may never get the chance to come back. So people need to remember, if they self-deport, they will have an opportunity to come back to this country legally.
10:40:25
MARGARET BRENNAN: But you have a capacity issue right now in terms of just beds to put people in when you detain them. Are you going to open up military facilities like Fort Bliss?
10:40:33
SECRETARY NOEM: There is, yes, a plan to use the facilities at Fort Bliss for detention facilities. But also we need to remember to ask- Congress needs to continue through with funding that this administration has asked for. You know, we clearly have a CR discussion in front of us this week. We have a reconciliation discussion. That reconciliation bill needs to happen. We have just weeks before we are out of the funds to continue the operations that- that we have. And even- everywhere I’ve been in this country, out there, looking at what President Trump has done on immigration and border enforcement, the people that I meet are saying thank you. Thank you for getting these terrorists out of the country. He has deported
MARGARET BRENNAN: Terrorists?
SECRETARY NOEM: in just one month.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Have you deported terrorists?
SECRETARY NOEM: 22 known and terrorists on the terrorist watch list are out of this country now we have almost 700 gang members that have been deported out of the country in just a month, and–
10:41:23
MARGARET BRENNAN: Which have been redefined as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.
10:41:27
SECRETARY NOEM: Well, 281 specific TDA members, which we know are the…
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