(REUTERS)

A protester dressed as a priest confronted US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the Trump administration’s violent crackdown on immigrants during a Thursday hearing held by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Homeland Security.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief has often spoken about her Christian faith—she said just two days ago on a government social media account that “I have relied on God and placed my faith in Him throughout my career in public service.”

During the Republican-led committee’s hearing on “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland,” a man in black and red religious attire began shouting about recent raids and other actions by DHS, including two department agencies: Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“Stop ICE raids! The power of Christ compels you!” the man shouted. “End deportations! The power of Christ compels you! Love thy neighbor! The power of Christ compels you!”

As police removed that man from the room, another protester stood and shouted similar messages: “Stop ICE! Get ICE off our streets! Stop terrorizing our communities!”

The second man—who displayed a sign that read, “No ICE, No Troops,” and noted an affiliation with the peace group CodePink—was also swiftly forced from the room by police.

In a statement from CodePink, Bita Iuliano, another activist who attended the hearing, took aim at Noem: “How dare she sit there and talk about ‘threats to our homeland’ when she’s the one using OUR tax dollars to terrorize our communities. If she really wants to protect our homeland, which by the way is stolen land, she should stop asking for more and more of our tax dollars for a department that is making our neighbors afraid to leave their homes.”

“ICE should be abolished, and that money should be used to fund what our communities actually need—healthcare, schools, housing, the fight against climate change, to name a few,” Iuliano argued, also calling out Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Noem, along with Hegseth, Rubio, and the rest of the war criminal crew, are the ones terrorizing our communities, from our streets here to Palestine, Venezuela, and all over the world,” she said. “They are the ones making it unsafe, and they’re using our dollars to do it. All we have are our voices, and we’re going to make sure we’re heard.”

Various faith leaders have also spoken out against the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants, including Pope Leo XIV, whose hometown of Chicago has been a key target of DHS action since President Donald Trump returned to power in January.

Pointing to Christian scripture, the first-ever American pontiff said in early November: “How did you receive the foreigner, did you receive him and welcome him, or not? I think there is a deep reflection that needs to be made about what is happening.”

Pope Leo also advocated for allowing religious leaders to access people who have been detained, saying that “many times they’ve been separated from their families. No one knows what’s happening, but their own spiritual needs should be attended to.”

Shortly after that, more than 200 US Catholic bishops released a rare joint statement last month stressing that “human dignity and national security are not in conflict” and calling for “meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures.”

The pope then urged “all people in the United States to listen” to the bishops and said that while “every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter,” the way immigrants are being treated in the US “is extremely disrespectful.”