Busted: Kristi Noem raises eyebrows with 'security theater' to 'generate clicks' on social media

DETROIT— Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Rep. John James (R- Shelby Township) promised increased security on the country’s northern border at a talk Friday in Detroit.

Noem claimed in the discussion panel, organized by the conservative group America’s Future Tour, that “many” transnational gang members are crossing into the country via the northern border after the southern border had experienced increased security since President Donald Trump took office.

Noem warned conservative allies that undocumented immigrants could enter by land, sea or road border crossings like the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit.

“When we seal secure areas where criminals may want to cross, they will find new areas,” Noem said.

Noem said she had met with people across the country who are “seeing so many resources going to the southern border that they felt concerned we are forgetting about the northern border.” Noem claims Canada to be floundering on border security and allowing drug traffickers and human smugglers access to the U.S.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, logs “encounters” in its system whenever it comes across an individual who is either not allowed to enter the U.S. or has crossed the border illegally at a location other than an official entry point. Illegal crossings at the US-Canada border make up less than 0.5% of the almost 3 million encounters reported nationwide according to CBP data.

Undocumented migrants also commit far fewer crimes that American citizens, with peer-reviewed studies reporting that U.S.-born citizens are over two times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes and four times more likely to be arrested for property crime.

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak), a candidate for U.S. Senate, spoke Friday evening at a campaign event in Ferndale and told Michigan Advance that the Trump administration’s policies were nothing more than “security theater” and not truly enhancing the safety of the nation.

“They are going after anybody and everybody from kids to moms who are trying to immigrate the right way to a kid here in Michigan who was three credits away from graduation, in a way that is scaring anybody from wanting to come across the border,” McMorrow said. “It’s not actually any thoughtful or tactical plans to improve the border and security. It’s just whatever they can put on social media to generate clicks.”

The America’s Future Tour panel comes amid a backdrop of growing protests across the country against the Trump administration’s hardline approach to migration. The Los Angeles migrant rights protest, which saw journalists and protestors shot with rubber bullets and doused in tear gas, has become a flashpoint in the migration debate after the Trump administration deployed the National Guard.

During Noem’s panel discussion, the LA Press Club and investigative news site Status Coup announced a lawsuit over what they allege to be the “targeting” of journalists by DHS during coverage of the LA protests.

The lawsuit accuses DHS officers of “unnecessarily and indiscriminately” using less-lethal ammunition against reporters, protesters and legal observers during the LA demonstrations.

Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy, a noted Trump ally who was part of the panel, affirmed Noem’s claims.

“[T]he amount of stuff that is coming in, illegals and other stuff from the northern border, is just going to continue until we tighten things up there,” Murphy said.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.