Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem dropped a bombshell on February 19, 2025, estimating that the Biden-Harris administration allowed hundreds of thousands of criminal migrants to flood into the United States.
Speaking on Fox News’ “Hannity,” Noem didn’t hold back, revealing that thousands of these illegals are tied to ruthless gangs—some even previously detained under President Donald Trump’s watch. This stark warning from a key Trump appointee lays bare the catastrophic failure of Biden’s open-border policies, a mess conservatives have been shouting about for years.
Noem pulled no punches in her assessment.
“We have hundreds of thousands of criminals that were let illegally into this country,” she declared. “That means they have criminal records. They’ve perpetuated crimes in this country. They’re members of gangs and cartels that have committed crimes around the world.”
She emphasized the scale, adding, “This is not a small operation.” For Republicans, this confirms what they’ve long suspected: Biden rolled out the red carpet for the world’s worst, leaving Americans to pay the price.
The numbers back up the chaos. Customs and Border Protection data show a staggering 8.5 million illegal migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border over Biden’s four fiscal years—excluding those who slipped through uncounted. Noem didn’t speculate on the exact tally of criminals but drove home the point with precision.
“But we literally do have hundreds of thousands of people that are criminal aliens,” she said. “But we have many, over thousands of them, that are on the suspected or known terrorist watch list. We know that we have thousands of gang members, just TDA [Tren de Aragua] members.”
She highlighted the Trump administration’s response, noting, “We’re using Gitmo as a detention center right now. Our camp five and six are full of TDA members, entire gang members that we’re getting out of this country and off of our streets.”
Noem didn’t stop at diagnosis—she laid out the fix.
“This is an operation that we’re going to have to work aggressively at for a period of time to make sure that we’re getting all those dangerous individuals out of our country and then go on to those who have overstayed and have final removal orders,” she explained. “We’re going to go forward and make sure that our federal laws are upheld and that every single law is followed in this country.”
She slammed Biden’s negligence, stating, “The Biden administration didn’t do that. They didn’t ensure that the American people were their number one priority. That’s why we’re in the situation that we’re in today.”
The contrast couldn’t be clearer. While Biden’s team ignored the border crisis, Trump’s administration is charging in with mass deportation plans. Noem’s estimate ties directly to the reality conservatives have decried: unchecked illegal immigration under Biden unleashed a wave of crime, from gang violence to cartel operations, that’s now spilling onto American streets.
Republicans aren’t surprised—just vindicated. Noem’s words on “Hannity” expose the Biden-Harris era as a national security disaster, inviting criminals and terrorists to waltz across an unsecured border. With Trump back in charge and Noem at DHS, the GOP is dead-set on reversing this nightmare, deporting the threats Biden welcomed, and restoring law and order. This isn’t just a cleanup—it’s a reclaiming of America’s sovereignty.
