Kristi Noem out as Homeland Security secretary

Kristi Noem, the face of some of the Trump administration’s most high-profile immigration controversies over the past year, was ousted Thursday as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, a day after she faced intense grilling from lawmakers in Congress.

President Donald Trump said he would nominate Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her.

In a social media post announcing her ouster, Trump praised Noem, saying she “has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!)”

Noem will serve as special envoy of a Western Hemisphere security initiative called the “Shield of the Americas,” he added, set to be announced Saturday.

“I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland,’” Trump said.

Noem’s firing, by far the most prominent dismissal of Trump’s second term, follows months of rumors that she was on the way out. But her two consecutive days of combative congressional hearings in early March — during which she was questioned about everything from DHS officers’ aggressive tactics in Minnesota to her relationship with special government employee Corey Lewandowski — may have been the final nail in the coffin for her prominent role in the Trump administration.

Lewandowski will also leave the department, a White House official and another person familiar with the decision told MS NOW, speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the president’s decisions. It’s unclear if he will follow Noem to her new post or move elsewhere within the administration.

Noem did not acknowledge her departure as DHS secretary in her remarks at an event with local law enforcement in Nashville immediately after Trump’s announcement. In a post on X later, she thanked Trump for her new role and praised DHS’ “historic accomplishments.”

Noem spearheaded Trump’s mass deportation agenda and oversaw the department’s brutal immigration operation in Minnesota, where officers killed two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in January.

“Good riddance,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey posted after news of Noem’s firing broke. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said on X that it was “good she’s gone,” but stressed that DHS needs a “complete overhaul,” which Democrats and Republicans on the Hill are hashing out with the department’s funding at stake.

Noem further stoked outrage when she labeled Pretti and Good domestic terrorists who she claimed intended to kill federal officers, statements that appeared to conflict with real-time video footage. After Pretti’s death, Noem was sidelined by the president, who sent his border czar, Tom Homan, to take over operations in Minnesota.

Lawmakers — even Republicans — had grown more vocally critical of the administration’s violent tactics in the wake of Pretti’s death, and the chorus grew as the administration defended its methods. Democrats renewed calls for Noem to be ousted or impeached, and lawmakers from both parties confronted her in hearings this week.

Trump did not say why he booted Noem from the job, but a costly DHS ad campaign was a factor. The former South Dakota governor often starred in sleekly produced action videos alongside Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in which she threatened to arrest and deport migrants.

She visited El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, to film a video warning migrants in the U.S. that they should self-deport — or risk being transported to the notorious prison.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., grilled Noem in the hearing Tuesday about a $220 million border security ad blitz that she featured prominently in. Noem said Trump green-lit the campaign.

Not so, according to Kennedy, who told reporters Trump was “mad as a murder hornet” when the two men spoke after the hearing.

“I heard the secretary say that she went to the president and said, ‘I propose to spend a quarter of a billion dollars on television advertisements in which I am the star, and the president thought that was a swell idea,’” Kennedy said. “From my perspective, her version of the truth and the president’s version of the truth are decidedly different.”

Indeed, Trump wasn’t happy with Noem’s answer, the White House official and person familiar with the decision told MS NOW.

Despite Trump having publicly praised Noem during her tenure, her firing does not come as a surprise following December reports of mounting frustrations among key Trump aides and allies. As first reported by MS NOW on Dec. 8, White House officials suggested Noem wasn’t moving aggressively enough to build new detention centers using money allocated under Trump’s signature spending bill. Several governors had also told Trump they were unhappy with her handling of FEMA and disaster relief funds. 

The White House initially denied that Noem’s days were numbered, calling MS NOW’s reporting “fake news.”

Mullin, if confirmed as DHS secretary, will assume one of the most challenging and public roles in Trump’s Cabinet. He told reporters after the president’s announcement Thursday that Noem “was tasked with a very difficult job” and “performed the best she can do” under the circumstances.

“I think there’s an opportunity to build off successes and there’s also opportunity to build off things that maybe didn’t go quite as planned,” he added.