A senate Democrat grilled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about her department’s use of a luxury airplane for “deportations.”
Noem on Monday testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the DHS’s recent funding lapse. While that was the primary focus of the hearing, committee members also took the opportunity to confront Noem on the conduct of ICE agents across the country.
Two weeks earlier, it was revealed that Noem’s DHS was seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget to purchase a luxury Boeing 737 Max 8. The plane, which DHS had been leasing, was equipped with “a queen bed, showers, a kitchen, four large flat-screen TVs and even a bar,” according to a report from NBC News. The plane, the department claimed, was for deportation flights.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) brought up the plane during Monday’s hearing, prompting Noem to claim the luxury amenities were actually being removed. The conversation contined:
WHITEHOUSE: Could you explain this?
NOEM: Sir, I’m looking at a picture of an interior. It looks like a bedroom.
WHITEHOUSE: Of an airplane.
NOEM: Yes, sir.
WHITEHOUSE: You’re not familiar with that?
NOEM: These photos are not accurate if you’re referring to the airplanes that the Department of Homeland Security has purchased and are purchasing. We’re using them for long-range command and control aircraft that is dictated in statute by Congress for the Department of Homeland Security to have a plane–
WHITEHOUSE: You did not use luxury jet with a bedroom in it?
NOEM: We used a 737. I’ve been on it once, but it is being used by other administration officials and it is used for command and control flights for the department. The department has found that in purchasing our aircraft, that we will save the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars–
WHITEHOUSE: Does it have a bedroom in it?
NOEM: –In fact, we spent $1.42 billion on ICE deportation flights last year.
WHITEHOUSE: Does it have a bedroom in it?
NOEM: I believe it’s being refurbished and not having a bedroom in it, so it is being refurbished.
Whitehouse then had a staffer hold up another photo of the plane’s interior. This one resembled a living room, featuring sofas and a TV.
WHITEHOUSE: What kind of this? What kind of deportee justifies being flown out of the country in a luxury jet with a bedroom and accommodations like this?
NOEM: There are aircraft being purchased that will be utilized for executive air travel and for deportations. If you remember–
WHITEHOUSE: Well, your people said that this was gonna be used for deportations.
NOEM: –in the past, we have used jets of this size and this configuration for deportations in the past. If you remember the–
WHITEHOUSE: In this configuration? By this configuration, you mean with a bedroom and luxury accommodations like this, you’ve used for deportations. Is that true?
NOEM: Sir, we have 737s that are being purchased by the department to replace contracts that we have on ICE deportations. That’s what they’re going to be used for. And in fact, the Coast Guard is the only entity within the Department of Homeland Security that has jets at this point in time. They had two G5s that were 20-25 years old that are being replaced so that they can continue to serve our Coast Guard and our military for years to come.
Watch above via C-SPAN
The post Democrat Confronts Noem About Luxury Jet She Reportedly Wants DHS to Buy for ‘Deportations’: ‘With a Bedroom in It?’ first appeared on Mediaite.