Homeland Security head taunted Canadians at border

Post Reply New Topic

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been criticized for a bizarre stunt during an official visit to the U.S.-Canada border.

On a trip to Derby, Vermont, in January following the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, ICE Barbie Noem visited a library which is directly bisected by the border with Quebec.

A line of black tape on the floor of a reading room of the Haskell Free Library and Opera House marks the spot where Derby ends, and Stanstead, Quebec, begins.

Noem reportedly stepped up to the tape and said, with a grin, “U.S.A. No. 1,” and then crossed the line into Canada and said, “The 51st state.”

“She did it at least three times and was very clear in saying, ‘U.S.A. No. 1,’ and didn’t even say ‘Canada.’ Just, ‘The 51st state’,” said Deborah Bishop, the library’s executive director, who is Canadian, speaking to the Boston Globe

Library volunteer Kathy Converse, who is a U.S. citizen, witnessed Noem’s performance which she said made her angry.

“Politics should not come into this, you know?” she said.

“I see the library as a little Switzerland,” said another volunteer, Sylvie Boudreau, speaking to the Globe. “Kind of a little neutral place, where we welcome.”

Stanstead’s Mayor Jody Stone said he was “disappointed to see somebody at such a high level of government using words like that... It’s kind of insulting to threaten your friends.”

The backlash has continued on social media. “This is not patriotism. It is an idiotic jingoism, unworthy of a great country,” tweeted Jay Nordlinger, a senior editor at conservative magazine National Review.

“Insulting, shameful, and unprofessional. But most of all... childish,” added Roland Paris, an international affairs professor at the University of Ottawa.

The US vice-president has sparked a row with his comments about a potential peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

UK opposition politicians accused JD Vance of disrespecting British forces after he said a US stake in Ukraine's economy was a "better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years".

The UK and France have said they would be willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peace deal.

Vance has since insisted he did not "even mention the UK or France", adding that both had "fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond

’Erasing from history'
Speaking in the French Parliament, France's Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu welcomed that Vance had "corrected his remarks".

He paid tribute to the memory of French soldiers who had died in recent decades, earning applause from French MPs by saying they "deserved the respect of our allies".

Earlier, Vance's original comments had drawn criticism from UK opposition politicians.

Conservative shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge pointed out both the UK and France deployed forces alongside the US in Afghanistan, adding: "It's deeply disrespectful to ignore such service and sacrifice."

Asked about Vance's comments later, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the vice-president did not call Britain a "random country".

"A lot of people are getting carried away. They're saying loads of things and getting quite animated. Let's keep cool heads," she said.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said Vance was "wrong, wrong, wrong", adding that the UK "stood by America" for 20 years in Afghanistan.

Liberal Democrat defence spokesperson Helen Maguire, a former captain in the Royal Military Police who served in Iraq, urged the UK's ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, to call on Vance to apologise for the comments.

"JD Vance is erasing from history the hundreds of British troops who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan," she said.

She later told the BBC Vance's comments "were clearly referring to the UK and France", adding that they were "deeply disrespectful".

’Real offence'
Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, a former British Army officer who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, said: "The disrespect shown by the new US vice-president to the sacrifices of our service personnel is unacceptable."

Speaking after Vance posted on social media to defend his comments, Obese-Jecty told BBC Two's Politics Live programme: "It's difficult to see who he was talking about, if he wasn't talking about Britain and France."

He called on the vice-president to clarify which countries he was referring to, and to apologise, adding that Vance had caused "real offence".

Downing Street refused to be drawn on whether the prime minister found the comments insulting or disrespectful, but said he was "full of admiration for all British troops who have served, for instance in Iraq and Afghanistan".

The UK joined the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, following the 9/11 attacks, with France also sending forces to the country.

More than 150,000 British personnel have served in Afghanistan over the last 20 years, with the final troops withdrawing in 2021.

The UK was also part of a US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, with British forces in the country peaking at 46,000.