The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Kristi Noem, on Tuesday would not retract her statements calling the two US citizens who were killed by immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis earlier this year “domestic terrorists”, while also claiming that agents do not abide by quotas for arrests.

Appearing before Congress for the first time since the killings, Noem evaded a question by the Senate judiciary committee ranking member, Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, about whether she would take back the false accusations about Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

“When we have these situations happen, we always offer our condolences to those families, and I offer mine as well,” Noem said during the oversight hearing.

Durbin noted that the leaders of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – both of whom testified before the House judiciary committee last month – said they did not provide information to Noem that Pretti was a domestic terrorist.

“I was getting reports from the ground, from agents at the scene, and I would say that it was a chaotic scene,” Noem said.

“Is it so hard to say you were wrong?” Durbin responded.

Noem also told the Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, that she believes there are about 650 federal immigration agents still stationed in Minnesota after Donald Trump’s “border czar”, Tom Homan, announced there would be a substantial drawdown of immigration enforcement in the state last month. Throughout Operation Metro Surge, there were about 3,000 agents in Minnesota.

“What I want to know is, when are you going to get down to the original footprint as promised to us?” Klobuchar asked Noem. Prior to the crackdown, there were about 150 federal immigration officers present in the state.

ICE and CBP’s actions throughout the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota drew condemnation from both parties. As Noem appeared on Tuesday, a funding bill to keep Noem’s department open remains stalled on Capitol Hill.

Democrats have pushed for stronger guardrails on immigration enforcement, while Republicans have called many of their demands, such as prohibiting federal agents from wearing masks while patrolling and making arrests, nonstarters.

During his opening remarks, the Senate judiciary committee chair, Chuck Grassley, blamed Democrats for the ongoing DHS shutdown.

Democratic senator Chris Coons grilled Noem about her department’s relationship with Trump’s top adviser, Stephen Miller. Coons noted Miller’s public comments to reporters about a daily quota of 3,000 arrests.

“When there’s pressure on you to hit high numbers,” the lawmaker from Delaware said, “it’s easier to simply round up people here [who are] breaking no laws and contributing to our communities.”

For her part, Noem was resolute that there were “no quotas” and insisted that the DHS conducted “targeted law enforcement”.

Durbin issued a sharp rebuke of the DHS under Noem’s leadership. He said that the department was “devoid of any moral compass or respect for the rule of law” and noted that “without hesitation or remorse”, federal immigration agents have “wreaked havoc in our cities”.

The hearing was a mostly partisan display, with Democrats skewering Noem’s handling of immigration enforcement and her agents’ tactics throughout the country. “You should step down from your position,” senator Cory Booker said, repeating calls from Democratic lawmakers for Noem to resign. “If you don’t, you should be removed by this president, and if not, Congress should impeach you.”

Some Republicans, however, did interrogate Noem’s leadership. Republican senator John Kennedy questioned the homeland security secretary about reports that DHS spent $220m on TV advertisements, where Noem was featured prominently, and noted that the contract to make the ads was awarded to a strategy group run by Noem’s former spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

“They went out to a competitive bid, and career officials at the department chose who would do those advertising commercials,” Noem said. “I did not have anything to do with picking those contractors.”

In a more heated exchange, senator Thom Tillis, who is not seeking re-election in North Carolina, repeated Booker’s calls for Noem’s resignation. “Time after time I’ve been disappointed,” the outgoing Republican said, while also submitting a letter from the DHS’s office of inspector general (OIG) that cites “10 different instances” under Noem’s leadership where the OIG has been “misled and not allowed to pursue investigations that they think are critically important”.

Ahead of Noem giving her opening statement, she was interrupted by a protester in the hearing room, who identified themself as a former Fema employee, and said that the homeland security secretary should be “ashamed” of herself. As they were escorted out of the room, they issued a call to “abolish ICE”.