Newsweek: Kristi Noem Seeks Death Penalty After Boat Capsizes Near US Border

[Dennis Donovan]

Newsweek - Kristi Noem Seeks Death Penalty After Boat Capsizes Near US Border

Published May 07, 2025 at 12:05 PM EDT
Billal Rahman

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will urge federal prosecutors to pursue the death penalty against two Mexican nationals charged with human smuggling that led to at least three migrant deaths, she announced Tuesday night.

"I will be formally requesting that the Attorney General ensure that these two suspected smugglers are swiftly prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I will also be urging the Attorney General to seek the death penalty in this case," Noem said in a statement on May 6.

Newsweek has contacted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment via email.

Why it matters

Noem's request comes amid President Donald Trump's ongoing crackdown on immigration, which has drawn widespread attention and criticism. Trump has vowed to carry out mass deportations and remove millions of migrants without legal status.

/snip

[Mountainguy]

1. Over pursuing will end up

With a jury letting them walk.

[rzemanfl]

4. It seems they would have to invoke the felony murder rule.

That would be a hard sell. The article is unclear as to how the death penalty applies and these guys were on the boat. I am not going to try to attend the Noem School of Law.

This case is much worse, and the death penalty was not sought.

https://www.fox7austin.com/news/san-antonio-migrant-deaths-convictions

[struggle4progress]

2. She sounds like the sort of person who kills puppies for fun and has her own torture-porn channel

https://images.axios.com/pPx6J7VrC2fSE1Nl1gxnerZmO_0=/0x317:4703x2962/1920x1080/2025/03/27/1743048471908.jpg

[sop]

10. I had a dream Kristi shot John Wick's puppy.

It didn't end well for her.

[Turbineguy]

3. For herself?

[marble falls]

5. She's awful anxious to get 'blooded'.

[EarlG]

6. Noem is seeking capital punishment for people who cause the death of migrants?

In completely unrelated news...

Lives cut short in ICE custody: Seven migrants die in Trump’s first 100 days

Since the Republican began his second term in January, seven migrants have died while in the custody of immigration police or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Blaise and two other migrants died in Florida, while one died in Arizona, another in Missouri, one in Texas, and one more in Puerto Rico. The individuals ranged in age from 27 to 55, and came from different corners of the globe: Haiti, Honduras, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Ukraine, and Ethiopia. They embarked on the odyssey to the United States for various reasons and through various means, but ultimately ended up in the same place: imprisoned in an infamous network of migrant detention centers denounced for their mistreatment and conditions.

(snip)

In the midst of Trump’s campaign of mass arrests and deportations, Democratic lawmakers are sounding the alarm over deaths like Blaise’s. “This administration’s deportation process has been sloppy and reckless since day one. No due process and no transparency, just families being illegally ripped apart and left to fend for themselves. In severe instances, innocent people have actually died, like Marie Blaise,” Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat and the only Haitian-American in Congress, said in a House address Wednesday.

Cherfilus-McCormick suggested that Blaise had not received adequate medical care before her death and condemned the conditions in which detainees are held. “Marie had been complaining of chest pain for hours. They gave her some pills and told her to go lie down. Unfortunately, Marie never woke up,” she said. “These conditions at ICE facilities are inhumane and unsanitary. Immigrants are being treated without basic dignity and being denied medical care.” Cherfilus-McCormick concluded by calling for a “full, transparent investigation” into Blaise’s death and announced that she would visit the facility where she died.

https://english.elpais.com/usa/2025-05-05/lives-cut-short-in-ice-custody-seven-migrants-die-in-trumps-first-100-days.html

[maveric]

7. Off with their heads!

Her bloodlust is getting worse.

[Solly Mack]

8. Killing them is her motivation. She doesn't care if migrants die and is only miffed they didn't die in U.S. custody.

Because she for damn sure doesn't give a flying fuck about people dying in U.S. custody.

[Disaffected]

9. Caused three migrant deaths you say?

Funny the dudes were not given commendations.

[progressoid]

11. More political theater

[2naSalit]

12. "Off with their heads!"

Sounds familiar.

[Vinca]

13. She doesn't view them as human, so why should she care?