Noem Deported From DHS
In Congress this week, Kristi Noem made such a mess that President Trump could no longer delay making the first firing of his second term.
Gradually and then suddenly, Kristi Noem found herself on the wrong side of President Donald Trump. She was ousted from her post atop the currently-shut-down Department of Homeland Security on Thursday and replaced with Markwayne Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma. Clearly, Trump’s first second-term firing signals that he’s ready to ramp up changes at DHS, specifically in immigration and deportation policy.
Deporting Noem is a big piece of that puzzle.
As Trump announced on Truth Social:
I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026. The current Secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!), will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida. I thank Kristi for her service at “Homeland.”
In terms of deportations, Noem’s record was impressive — 670,000 removals and more than two million self-deportations.
However, Noem had a rocky tenure at DHS, seemingly favoring self-promotion via dolled-up glamour shots and girl-boss aggression over effective administration. She was the lightning rod for criticism on heavy-handed deportation roundups, especially after two deaths in Minneapolis at the hands of DHS agents. Rather than conciliatory language about two dead American citizens, she falsely labeled the deceased “domestic terrorists.”
By the end of January, Trump had already dispatched her rival Tom Homan to Minnesota to clean up her mess.
But the last straw came during her testimony in the Senate on Tuesday and the House on Wednesday. For a long time now, she has brought unwanted attention because of her open-secret affair with her subordinate and Trump’s first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. But her non-answer about it on Tuesday was stunning. She was asked if she had “sexual relations” with Lewandowski. With her husband of 34 years seated behind her, she brushed off the question as “tabloid garbage,” but refused to give a yes-or-no answer.
More significantly, she drew Republican Senator John Kennedy’s criticism over $220 million in spending on ads that he noted “feature you prominently” and “were effective in your name recognition.” Noem insisted that President Trump had approved the ad campaign, but Kennedy didn’t buy it. Trump also later countered, “I never knew anything about it.”
In short, it seems that Noem, a former congresswoman and governor of South Dakota, simply wasn’t up to the job, and Trump finally had enough.
As for Mullin, he has the complete confidence of President Trump going in, though he’ll still need to be confirmed by the Senate. “As the only Native American in the Senate, Markwayne is a fantastic advocate for our incredible Tribal Communities,” Trump said in the aforementioned Truth Social post. “Markwayne will work tirelessly to Keep our Border Secure, Stop Migrant Crime, Murderers, and other Criminals from illegally entering our Country, End the Scourge of Illegal Drugs and, MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN.”
That’s a fine endorsement, though the former undefeated mixed martial arts fighter and plumber has only been in the Senate for three years and has no experience with law enforcement or homeland security.
When it comes to funding DHS, which Democrats have refused to do for weeks now, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Noem’s firing isn’t enough. “Good riddance. She was a disaster,” he said. However, “A change in personnel is not sufficient. We need a change in policy.” That’s a reference to Democrats’ various demands for ICE personnel.
It is critically important that the Trump administration get immigration and deportation policy right. It was one of his signature issues during the campaign, and he must execute policy in such a way as to maintain the support of the American people. Here’s hoping Mullin is up to that task.
