President Donald Trump removed Kristi Noem as the face of the administration’s immigration crackdown on Thursday ET, one day after mounting backlash over her conduct at the Department of Homeland Security. Trump said Noem will become a special envoy for a new Western Hemisphere security initiative called the Shield of the Americas and that Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin will replace her at the end of the month pending Senate confirmation. The move follows months of controversy over Noem’s front-line role, high-profile advertising and agency spending.
One Day Fallout: What Trump announced and who moves into DHS
President Donald Trump announced Thursday ET that Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, will be reassigned and that Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma will take over the department after Senate confirmation. Trump thanked Noem for her work at “Homeland, ” and said she will serve as a special envoy for the Shield of the Americas initiative. The White House action marks a rapid reshuffle at the top of the administration’s immigration team and comes amid growing criticism of how Noem ran the department.
Noem’s approach drew attention from the moment she assumed the post last year: she joined immigration raids in the field wearing a bulletproof vest and appeared alongside enforcement agents, and she took the border-enforcement message abroad, including a visit to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Her visibility and unconventional tactics prompted critics to question norms for a homeland security secretary and to brand her hardline style with derisive labels.
Immediate reactions and key voices
President Donald Trump said, “I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland. ‘” He also publicly contradicted Noem’s defense of her advertising spending with a blunt line: “I never knew anything about it. ” Kristi Noem told a Capitol Hill hearing earlier this week that President Trump was aware of the spending. Corey Lewandowski, a senior adviser to Noem, had an acrimonious call with the president on Tuesday ET and is now leaving the department.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina offered swift political reaction, saying “it was time for a change. ” Democrats in Congress had criticized the department’s expenditures, highlighting roughly $220 million in federal funding for an advertising campaign that featured Noem and nearly $200 million spent on two luxury jets for official travel.
Quick context: How the controversy built
Noem rose to prominence inside the department through visible field appearances and a high-profile advertising campaign that included promotional footage of her on horseback. Critics seized on a public appearance at a prison in El Salvador in which Noem wore a $50, 000 wristwatch and on large agency expenditures that were questioned in congressional hearings earlier this week ET.
What’s next: confirmations, departures and unanswered questions
Senate confirmation is required for Senator Markwayne Mullin to assume the leadership role at the Department of Homeland Security; that process and additional departures from the department will shape how quickly the administration’s immigration enforcement posture changes. Corey Lewandowski’s exit and the president’s outreach to Republican lawmakers this week ET suggest further personnel moves are possible as the administration recalibrates its public-facing immigration strategy. For Kristi Noem, the reassignment to a special envoy role closes one chapter at Homeland and opens another—but the dispute over the ad campaign and agency spending that helped prompt this change will leave residual political and oversight questions that could resurface one day as lawmakers press for answers.
