U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem held a news conference on Saturday, where she discussed technology development and investment in the Transportation Security Administration.
The news conference took place at Miami International Airport.
At MIA, Noem touted the airport’s $9 billion modernization plan and TSA’s role in helping to remove criminals, and the airport’s human trafficking unit, which she said has done 2,200 inspections over the last year and made 24 child exploitation arrests.
According to Noem, DHS is spending another $ 1 billion on technology upgrades across U.S. airports.
“We’ll be increasing our K-9 presence with teams that will deploy all across the country, computed tomography, and enhanced imaging technology. In fact, here at Concourse D at the Miami Airport is a state-of-the-art concourse that is allowing passengers to get screened over 30 percent faster,” she said.
Noem, in recent days, has been scrutinized for comments she made after federal officers fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, where an immigration officer killed Renee Good this month.
Two Republican senators, Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski, on Tuesday called for Noem to resign, making them the first Republicans in Congress to say she should step down.
A federal appeals court ruled late Wednesday that the Trump administration acted illegally when it ended legal protections that gave hundreds of thousands of people from Venezuela permission to live and work in the United States.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that Noem exceeded her authority when she ended temporary protected status for Venezuelans.
Noem was asked about TPS during her visit to MIA, as Haitians are set to lose those protections on Wednesday.
“As TPS for Haiti expires, those individuals can all work with us to see if it is following the law to stay here and if not, will return home,” she said.