With Marimar Martinez standing a few rows behind her, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington on Tuesday that she was not “familiar with the details” of Martinez’s shooting by an immigration agent in Chicago last fall and unaware whether the agent who shot her was still on duty.

Noem’s claimed lack of knowledge about a shooting case that garnered national headlines during Operation Midway Blitz came under testy questioning by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, who had Martinez and two other U.S. citizens allegedly abused by immigration officers stand up in the gallery as he asked Noem a series of questions.

Blumenthal described how Martinez was “on her way to donate clothing at her church” when she was involved in a traffic crash with Border Patrol agents, leading one of them to storm out and fire at her moving vehicle, “hitting her five times.”

“She almost bled to death,” Blumenthal said. “Wouldn’t you agree that shooting Miramar Martinez on her way to donate clothing at her church, a United States citizen from Chicago, is wrong?”

“Sir, I don’t know that situation or the case,” Noem answered, as Martinez stood about five rows back in the gallery behind her, dressed in a white blouse. “I’ll look into it to ensure that all procedures were followed properly –”

Blumenthal cut Noem off, saying, “Well, I’m glad you’ll look into it,” before recounting how Martinez was charged with assaulting officers, only to have the case dismissed in court “as being trumped up.”

The senator then put up poster boards with images of the now-infamous text messages the agent who shot Martinez sent to colleagues and relatives, including one saying, “I fired five rounds and she had seven holes. Put that in your book boys,” and another where he bragged about being “up for another round of f--- around and find out.”

“Will you join me in condemning that agent?” Blumenthal asked Noem.

“Sir, that situation I don’t know the details of, but I will look into that,” Noem replied.

“I don’t know why you can’t join me to say it was wrong to shoot Miramar, almost cause her death, and then brag about it. Wouldn’t you agree with me that it was wrong?” Blumenthal pressed.

“Sir, the way that you have portrayed it, it appears to be, but let me look into the case so I can speak to the specifics of it,” Noem said.

Blumental also pointed to another text message from the agent, Charles Exum, that was made public last month showing he told colleagues his bosses had all been supportive of him following the shooting, including Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, Noem and “el jefe himself,” which Blumenthal said referred “presumably to President Trump.”

The senator then pressed Noem repeatedly on whether Exum was still on the job and carrying a gun, which Noem said she could not answer because she was “not familiar with it.”

“I think Americans would find it absolutely terrifying that that agent is still on the job carrying a gun, and the fact that you can’t tell me that you will take him off –” Blumenthal said, before Noem cut him off with a question of her own about a person in the senator’s home state who was allegedly killed by an immigrant who was in the country illegally.

“I’d like to hear you say the name of one of our victims of illegal criminal activity,” Noem said, her voice rising as they both talked over each other.

At the end of the exchange, Blumenthal offered Noem the chance to say something directly to Martinez, but Noem did not respond.

In a written statement provided by her lawyer after the hearing, Martinez said Noem’s claim to know nothing about her case is “more alarming than her agency’s refusal to investigate (Exum’s) unlawful actions.”

“Frankly, I think it is even worse if Secretary Noem truly does not know about the facts of my case,” Martinez said. “She is the leader of DHS and one of her agents attempted to kill me, a U.S. citizen on the streets of Chicago. It was reported in every national news outlet for months. Does she not read the newspaper? Is she not briefed on shootings of U.S. citizens by border patrol agents?”

Martinez also noted in the statement the evidence released in her case — which media outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, and eventually her lawyers fought to make public — demonstrates that Noem did know about the shooting.

She called on Noem to have the FBI investigate Exum “for his attempted execution of me.”

“I am confident the evidence will demonstrate his shooting was unlawful and violated DHS’s use of force policies,” she said, adding that despite her ordeal, she still loves her country and recognizes the agents’ actions “do not represent all law enforcement.”

Martinez’s Oct. 4 shooting in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood was one of the highest-profile investigations of Operation Midway Blitz.

In a playbook that has now become familiar in other cities, the Trump administration, including Noem’s top spokespeople, almost immediately labeled Martínez as a “domestic terrorist” — a narrative the government has refused to retract even after assault charges against Martínez were dropped less than two months later.

In January, days after Bovino led a similar immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, an eerily similar shooting occurred there when a Border Patrol agent fatally shot Renee Good as she tried to drive away from agents who had ordered her out of her car. That was followed days later by the killing in Minneapolis of another U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti.

Martinez has since said she sees herself as a voice for others who have suffered from abuses by the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation efforts. Last month, she attended the president’s State of the Union address to Congress as a guest of U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a Chicago Democrat.

Prosecutors had alleged Martínez was part of a convoy of civilians who were following agents when she rammed Exum’s vehicle near 39th Street and Kedzie Avenue, prompting Exum to jump out of his Tahoe and fire five shots, wounding Martínez seven times.

Martínez’s attorneys argued it was Exum who sideswiped Martínez and that his extreme use of force was completely unjustified. They also alleged evidence tampering, saying Exum was inexplicably allowed to drive the Tahoe more than 1,000 miles back to his home base in Maine, where a Border Patrol mechanic attempted to “wipe off” some of the scuff marks from the crash.

After the charges against Martínez were dropped on Nov. 20, it’s since been revealed in court that her car is part of a second, ongoing criminal investigation into the shooting, which is being handled by the U.S. attorney’s office in South Bend, Indiana.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, was the first to bring up Martinez in Tuesday’s four-hour hearing. The senator, who is retiring in January 2027, asked Noem about her department labeling Martinez, Good and Pretti “domestic terrorists” in the immediate aftermath of those shootings.

“We have ample video and eyewitness testimony proving you are wrong,” Durbin told Noem. “Your statements caused immeasurable pain to these families. Let me give you an opportunity to do the right thing. Do you retract these statements identifying these victims as domestic terrorists?”

Noem answered: “When we have these situations happen, we always offer our condolences to these families. I offer my own as well.”

Noem said she was working with initial information coming in from very “chaotic” scenes and that she always “strives” to give the public the best information she can.

“How did you think that calling them domestic terrorists was somehow going to calm the situation?” Durbin asked near the end of his questioning. “Is it so hard to say you were wrong?”

“As these investigations continue to go, I absolutely strive to provide factual information and will continue to do that,” Noem said.

“And when you fail, will you admit it publicly?” Durbin asked.

“Absolutely,” Noem replied. “We always know that there’s room for improvement.”

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