Trump removes Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary
Noem faced backlash over spending and controversial immigration tactics
Trump replaces Noem with Senator Markwayne Mullin
Noem's tenure marked by visible participation in enforcement operations
Minneapolis incident further strained Noem's position with Trump
📖 Full Retelling
President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he is removing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem from her post, replacing her with Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin at the end of the month, following mounting backlash over her controversial tenure leading the administration's crackdown on immigration. Noem will transition to a new role as special envoy for a new US security initiative called The Shield of the Americas. Once considered one of the administration's brightest stars when she assumed the position after Trump's return to the White House, Noem immediately gained attention for her visible participation in immigration raids, often appearing in a bulletproof vest alongside field agents and serving as a vocal advocate of Trump's deportation drive. She implemented policies that effectively closed the US-Mexico border and took the message abroad, including a visit to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador that housed migrants deported from the US. Noem's unconventional approach, however, quickly courted controversy as Homeland Security secretaries typically do not participate in field operations. Critics viewed her frontline appearances as an effort to burnish her image as a tough-talking immigration enforcer, and she sparked backlash for wearing a $50,000 watch during her prison visit and appearing on horseback in a DHS advertising campaign. The controversy escalated when it was revealed Noem had approved spending $220 million on an advertising blitz starring herself and nearly $200 million on two luxury jets for official travel, which Trump publicly contradicted her about, stating he was unaware of the expensive campaign.
🏷️ Themes
Political Shakeup, Immigration Policy, Government Spending
Movement of people into another country or region to which they are not native
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short-term stays in a destination country do not fall under the defini...
An American national security policy, homeland security is "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" to the "national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within...
Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem ( NOHM; née Arnold; born November 30, 1971) is an American politician who is the 8th United States Secretary of Homeland Security. A member of the Republican Party, she served as the 33rd governor of South Dakota from 2019 to 2025 and represented South Dakota's at-large congr...
President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025)
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.
Born into a wealthy New York City family, Trump graduated from the...
Trump cuts his losses on Noem after controversial tenure at homeland security 42 minutes ago Share Save Daniel Bush Washington correspondent Share Save Sooner or later, advisers in President Donald Trump's orbit all come to learn the same unwritten rule: no one can outshine the boss. Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, became the latest reminder of that on Thursday when Trump announced he was removing her from her post as the face of the administration's crackdown on immigration. Noem will be replaced by Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin at the end of the month, Trump said in a post on Truth Social. He said Noem would move to a new job as special envoy for a new US security initiative in the Western Hemisphere called The Shield of the Americas. "I thank Kristi for her service at "Homeland",' Trump said. It ends Noem's controversial tenure at the top of the department, which is tasked with carrying out the president's sweeping immigration agenda. Noem was one of the administration's brightest stars when she stepped into the role last year after Trump returned to the White House. She immediately gained attention for joining immigration raids, often appearing in a bulletproof vest alongside field agents carrying out enforcement actions. She was a vocal advocate of Trump's deportation drive, and touted policies that effectively closed the US-Mexico border. She also took the message abroad, in one instance visiting a maximum-security prison in El Salvador that took in some migrants deported from the US. But Noem's unconventional approach courted controversy from the start. Homeland Security secretaries do not typically partake in field operations. Noem's decision to appear on the frontlines of Trump's immigration crackdown was viewed by critics as an effort to burnish her image as the tough-talking immigration enforcer-in-chief. She sparked a backlash by wearing a $50,000 watch during her visit to CECOT, the notorious prison in El Salvador....
