Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, is set to appear before Congress on Thursday for a hearing that is likely to draw sharp questions about the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics and efforts to upend legal paths for migrants to live in the United States.

The hearing, held by the House Homeland Security Committee, typically takes place annually and focuses on “worldwide threats” to the United States. Noem will face a panel of lawmakers as the federal government is escalating its immigration efforts and seeking to ramp up deportations.

In recent months, the federal government has mobilized the National Guard and deployed federal agents to several U.S. cities, primarily Democratic-led areas with large immigrant populations, against the wishes of local leaders. Trump administration officials have said those efforts were necessary to enforce immigration laws and reduce crime. But the operations have sometimes led to clashes between federal agents and residents who have criticized their use of force.

Federal officials have defended their use of tear gas and other crowd-control munitions against protesters in cities like Chicago, saying they had limited the measures to instances in which there was an immediate threat to agents.

Changes Made to Legal Immigration System

The Department of Homeland Security has also made changes to the legal immigration system since last month’s shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., which left one dead. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan who received asylum in April, has been charged in the attack. Lakanwal has pleaded not guilty.

Since then, the Trump administration has halted the ability of Afghans to obtain visas, paused decisions on asylum applications and vowed to review the more than 50,000 asylum applications that were approved during the Biden administration. It has also paused immigration applications submitted by foreign nationals from the 19 countries subject to the president’s travel ban.

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security have also said they would reexamine applications that were approved for migrants from those countries who entered the United States since the beginning of the Biden administration.

Those changes have already disrupted some immigrants’ applications for benefits. In recent days, immigration lawyers have said their clients have had their green card interviews or naturalization ceremonies canceled with little explanation.

In October, the administration significantly cut the number of refugees who are accepted and said it would give priority to mostly white Afrikaner South Africans. The Trump administration lowered the ceiling for refugee admissions to 7,500 for this fiscal year, down from the 125,000 cap the Biden administration set last year.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Madeleine Ngo/Kenny Holston
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