type: timeline_event
On December 11, 2025, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testified before the House Committee on Homeland Security in a contentious hearing over the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies. The pivotal moment occurred when Noem claimed under questioning that DHS had not deported any veterans. Representative Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) immediately introduced Sae Joon Park via Zoom — a Purple Heart recipient and U.S. Army veteran who had been shot twice during combat in Panama in 1989. Park had lived in the United States for nearly 50 years before being compelled to self-deport to South Korea under a removal order based on minor drug offenses from the 1990s, offenses he committed while struggling with PTSD. Magaziner emphasized that Park had been clean and sober for 14 years. When Magaziner asked Noem to thank Park for his service, she replied only that she was "grateful for every single person that has served our country and follows our laws" — a response that infuriated Democratic lawmakers who viewed it as dismissive of Park's combat sacrifice and subsequent rehabilitation.
The hearing also featured Jim Brown, a veteran whose Irish-born wife faced deportation after 48 years in the United States, and multiple Democratic members demanded Noem's resignation, accusing her of lying to Congress and of conducting unconstitutional enforcement operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and other major cities. Noem defended her department's record, citing the arrest of "hundreds of thousands of criminal illegal aliens across the country, including gang members, rapists, kidnappers, and drug traffickers." The hearing unfolded against the backdrop of DHS's own year-end statistics: by December 2025, 2.5 million undocumented immigrants had left the United States — comprising 622,000 formal deportations and 1.9 million self-deportations — the most aggressive immigration enforcement period in modern American history.
Republican committee members largely defended Noem, arguing that immigration law should apply uniformly regardless of military service. The hearing's aftermath saw intensified scrutiny of DHS policies, with immigration attorneys documenting numerous additional veteran cases suggesting Park's deportation was not isolated but reflected systemic policy choices. Representative Seth Moulton subsequently introduced the NOEM Act, legislation designed to hold ICE officers accountable for constitutional violations during enforcement operations, naming it directly after the Secretary to emphasize accountability. DHS spokesperson statements following the hearing claimed Magaziner had "omitted Park's criminal history," though the congressman had explicitly addressed it during his remarks, highlighting its minor nature and Park's years of sobriety. The confrontation became one of the most widely circulated images of the hearing's human cost — a decorated combat veteran appearing on a tablet screen to contradict the Cabinet official who had authorized his removal.