A senior House Democrat on Thursday called the shooting that took the life of a National Guard soldier an “unfortunate accident” and an “unfortunate situation.”
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, the senior Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, was challenging Secretary Kristi Noem during a hearing over the process that led to the shooting suspect, an Afghan migrant, being in the U.S.
During his questioning, he called the shooting, which slew one guardsman and critically wounded another, an “unfortunate accident.”
“You think that was an unfortunate accident?” Ms. Noem retorted. “He shot our guardsmen in the head.”
“It was an unfortunate situation. But you blamed it solely on Joe Biden,” Mr. Thomson countered.
He was trying to get Ms. Noem to admit that the shooting suspect’s application for asylum was approved by the Trump administration.
Ms. Noem wouldn’t give a direct answer, instead saying that the rules used to adjudicate his application were set in place during the Biden administration.
National Counterterrorism Center chief Joe Kent added that the Biden administration used “a ruse” to allow the shooting suspect to reach the U.S. in the first place under immigration “parole,” rather than subjecting him to the more rigorous standards of the Special Immigrant Visa.
Mr. Thompson was not pleased with the answers and warned Ms. Noem she risked “perjury charges” for her answers.
