President Donald Trump announced Thursday that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem will be replaced, a change that follows intense questioning she received at a congressional hearing two days earlier. DHS, the federal government’s third-largest department responsible for immigration and homeland security, has been central to the administration’s hard-line immigration agenda.
Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma is expected to be nominated and, pending Senate confirmation, to take over as DHS secretary at the end of the month. Noem is the first Cabinet member to be dismissed since Trump began his second term.
Noem’s tenure drew sustained scrutiny from both parties. Critics accused her of using DHS resources for self-promotional activities and of publicly defending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amid allegations of mistreatment of migrants and U.S. citizens, including two people who died during confrontations with federal agents. Democrats repeatedly called for her resignation, arguing that some policies amounted to harsh and inhumane enforcement.
Shortly after taking the post, Noem moved quickly to prioritize immigration enforcement. She presided over decisions to end temporary protected status for nationals from countries including Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, Syria and Venezuela, asserting that conditions in those countries had improved enough to allow returns. She also faced bipartisan criticism over FEMA’s emergency funding speed and aspects of DHS disaster response.
Noem, a former South Dakota governor and prominent Trump ally, maintained a highly public role despite lacking a law enforcement background. She frequently accompanied agents on operations while being filmed, and a trip to the CECOT prison in El Salvador — where she posed with shirtless inmates DHS said were gang members — drew particular condemnation from critics who described the visit as self-promotion. The episode and a multimillion-dollar DHS advertising campaign prompted accusations that the department was being used to burnish Noem’s image; when a Republican senator suggested the ads were more about her than enforcement, Noem said the campaign had Trump’s approval, a claim the president later denied publicly. Opponents mockingly dubbed her “ICE Barbie.”
In his social media post announcing the change, Trump thanked Noem for her service and said she would become a “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative he described as focused on the Western Hemisphere. Noem said she was grateful for the reassignment and said she looked forward to working with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our nation and killed our children and grandchildren.” She also defended her record at DHS, saying the department achieved “historic accomplishments to make America safe again” and delivered the “most secure border in American history.”
Edited by: Wesley Dockery