Tillis threatens nominee holds over immigration data request

Chris Johnson, CQ-Roll Call on Feb 27, 2026

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WASHINGTON — Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C, threatened on Thursday to place a hold on additional presidential nominees if he doesn’t get data he requested from the Department of Homeland Security on immigration enforcement in his state.

Tillis had sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem more than three weeks ago with questions about encounters between federal immigration officers and residents. He gave a deadline of March 2, the day before Noem is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“I expect to see it presented before the committee, or I’ll place holds on even more confirmations outside of DHS, if they’re not prompt with those responses,” Tillis said. “That’s not an unreasonable response.”

Tillis sent the letter to Noem amid increased concerns about immigration officials sweeping up U.S. citizens for arrests and detention in immigration enforcement. He requested information on Operation Charlotte’s Web, which sought to apprehend migrants in North Carolina who were illegally in the United States.

The letter requested encounter-level data involving U.S. citizens, including stops, detentions, questioning, searches, releases, uses of force and property damage incidents. Tillis also sought information on protocols for reporting this data, the total number of apprehensions in Operation Charlotte’s Web and the total number of encounters involving U.S. citizens.

Tillis said Thursday that any organization that “doesn’t have those details at their fingertips is another failed organization,” adding that the information he seeks is “called incident reports, and any credible law enforcement agency has them.”

Tillis did not make clear which presidential nominees “outside of DHS” he would place holds on. Tillis has already placed a hold on all nominees to the Federal Reserve until a criminal investigation of Chairman Jerome Powell is resolved.

Tillis has called for Noem to resign, blaming her for changing immigration enforcement from a winning issue into a political liability for Republicans.

Noem is set to testify next week amid intense scrutiny on the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement after agents fatally shot U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in two high-profile incidents in Minneapolis.

Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he intends at the upcoming hearing to address the approach of DHS in Minneapolis under Operation Metro Surge.

“I’m going to get into the management strategy that led to the debacle of Minneapolis and the absolute destruction of a winning issue for President Trump, and putting us on our heels on border security and immigration, an issue that he actually won on,” Tillis said. “She has managed through her incompetence to take that off the board for us, and we need to get it back on the boards.”

Noem is also scheduled to testify Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee.