by Pamela Kenley-Meschino
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) on Tuesday read aloud a passage of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s memoir in which she describes shooting her pet dog, Cricket, during a committee markup on a bill related to deporting migrants who harm animals. —The Hill, November 18, 2025
She killed the dog, he said,
reading from her own words,
shot a puppy not yet grown,
its unruliness put down.
Fourteen months young,
he spoke the name so we could
witness her transgression,
not the puppy’s—Cricket.
Some snickered at the obvious,
a killer of dogs in charge,
rounding up castaways
for gravel pits unknown.
It’s no joke.
Some countered stories
from the other side,
of beagles left behind in labs,
abuse for an abuse.
What about that?
All agreed that dogs must
not be harmed.
Save them all from
cruelty’s bloody hands.
We vouch for Cricket’s rights
as we shout for human rights,
to live without fear or discrimination.
We need to say all their names.
She killed the dog; in her own
words, she hated the dog.
