Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem returned to Minnesota for the second time in a month on Sunday as she hand delivered $10,000 bonus checks to select TSA workers at MSP Airport.
Noem, who spoke at MSP Airport on Sunday, said workers receiving a bonus were nominated by their supervisors and co-workers. Recommendations were then moved to TSA field leadership before DHS reviewed and approved them.
"Part of the strength of DHS and the United States of America are the people who show up each and every day committed to serving each other," Noem said.
Noem's visit came following the 43-day federal government shutdown .
"We are grateful that the government is back open, but what we saw during that time period was remarkable things," Noem said. ""We saw people who recognized that their purpose for why they were created was to serve people."
The secretary's visit comes as MSP Airport expects another busy round of Thanksgiving travel with a peak of 49,000-plus passengers going through security checkpoints on the Wednesday before, and the Sunday after, Thanksgiving.
Noem on Sunday also unveiled a massive TSA modernization initiative.
"We will be putting over $1 billion into new scanning equipment, x-ray equipment, AIT equipment, and resources so you can all do your jobs well, accurately, and efficiently," she said. "It will make them easier and allow you more time to enjoy your positions at work while serving and do so with the confidence that we are keeping passengers safe."
On Friday, President Donald Trump announced he intends to end Temporary Protected Status for Somalis, posting on Truth Social about Minnesota which he called, "a hub of fraudulent money laundering."
“TPS is a program that was always meant to be temporary,” Noem said, noting that Somalia’s protections have been in place for more than 30 years. She added that decisions about whether conditions in Somalia still justify the program are “not under the purview that I have the latitude to weigh in on.”
On Monday, the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN), along with Muslim community leaders, legal professionals and advocates, will hold a press conference to discuss recent attacks targeting Minnesota's Muslim and Somali communities, as well as the recent TPS termination for Somali immigrants.