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Trump announced Noem would be leaving her role at the end of the month and that she would become a special envoy for a new security initiative, ‘The Shield of the Americas’
Rhian Lubin in New York & Josh MarcusFriday 06 March 2026 02:08 GMT- Bookmark
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Close popoverKristi Noem grilled over questionable contracts in tense House hearing
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President Donald Trump has announced he will replace Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary, making her the first cabinet member to be forced out since he returned to the White House last year.
Reports that Trump was growing more “frustrated” with Noem emerged Thursday morning following her “disastrous” performances in front of House and Senate committees this week.
Trump is reassigning Noem as a special envoy for the so-called “Shield of the Americas” initiative, he wrote on Truth Social on Thursday afternoon. Noem leaves her original post at the end of the month.
The exact scope of her new role is unclear, but Noem suggested it could involve eliminating drug cartels in South America.
In her place, Trump tapped Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin. In an interview with NBC, Mullin said he “wasn't expecting the call today.”
The White House hopes he is confirmed “as quickly as possible” amid a Department of Homeland Security shutdown that has lasted almost three weeks. Senate Democrats on Thursday again voted against a spending bill for the agency.
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal is pushing to investigate Noem, alleging she wasn’t truthful in her recent congressional testimony
KEY POINTS
- Trump fires DHS Secretary Kristi Noem
- Noem to become 'special envoy' for new security initiative called ‘The Shield of the Americas’
- Kristi Noem appears on stage to speak at event minutes after being ousted by Trump
- Outgoing DHS secretary breaks silence after Trump fires her
- Markwayne Mullin describes frantic pace of Trump call to replace Noem as DHS chief
Senator wants to investigate Noem despite Trump's decision to reassign her
Kristi Noem is not out of the woods yet.
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal wants to investigate the outgoing DHS secretary for perjury over her recent congressional testimony.
“Her firing doesn’t absolve her or relieve her of potential liability for perjury, and we are going to pursue an investigation of the evidence that she lied, because it relates to corruption in the administration,” Blumenthal told The New York Times.
During her testimony earlier this week, Noem suggested a top outside adviser, Corey Lewandowski, had no role in approving contracts, and said President Trump was aware of the deal for a more than $200 million ad campaign that prominently featured Noem.
The president later said he was not aware of the deal, while Senator Blumenthal has alleged that Lewandowski “personally approved contracts.
DHS is a ‘disaster’ under Kristi Noem. Even Republicans can’t convince her to care
Thom Tillis compared Kristi Noem’s tenure to the time she killed a 14-month-old dog and chalked it up to a leadership lesson, Alex Woodward writes as the Homeland Security Secretary returns to CongressJosh Marcus6 March 2026 01:58Noem handpicked contractors for $100m ICE recruitment drive: report
Outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem personally picked the contractors to lead a $100 million Immigration and customs Enforcement recruitment campaign, NBC News reports, rather than opting for the more typical bidding process for high-profile government deals.
“Decisions about the ICE recruitment campaign contract were made by the ICE Director’s office,” DHS told the outlet. “This was the most efficient option to quickly turn around recruitment campaign to get patriotic Americans to sign up to help us remove murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members from our communities.”
The report comes after Noem faced scrutiny and intense questioning in Congress earlier this week about why Homeland Security paid more than $200 million for an ad campaign that prominently featured her.
Noem testified that Trump was aware of the campaign, which he denied.
Josh Marcus6 March 2026 01:34The 'moral of the story' behind Noem's exit
Did Congress ... just do its job for once and perform meaningful oversight?
That’s the take from our D.C. Bureau Chief, Eric Garcia.
The Republican majorities in both houses of Congress have largely let the Trump administration do what it wants on immigration, even as agents have detained Americans, killed U.S. citizens, and are accused of mass racial profiling
However, a fierce round of questioning in the Senate this week was reportedly one of the final straws that led to Kristi Noem being pushed out of the Department of Homeland Security.
“Moral of the story?” Garcia wrote on X. “Congressional oversight matters. Congress should do it more.“
Here’s Alex Woodward’s report on the pivotal hearing.
DHS is a ‘disaster’ under Kristi Noem. Even Republicans can’t convince her to care
Thom Tillis compared Kristi Noem’s tenure to the time she killed a 14-month-old dog and chalked it up to a leadership lesson, Alex Woodward writes as the Homeland Security Secretary returns to CongressJosh Marcus6 March 2026 01:10How will Markwayne Mullin's Senate seat get filled?
(Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)If Markwayne Mullin is appointed the new head of Homeland Security, the Oklahoma Republican’s seat in the Senate will be temporarily vacant.
Under state law, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will have 30 days to appoint a replacement, who will serve out the remainder of Mullin’s term, which ends in January 2027.
This appointee cannot seek the seat in future elections, meaning Mullin’s exit will likely kick off a Republican primary fight in the state.
Josh Marcus6 March 2026 00:50Was America really 'safer' under Kristi Noem?
The Department of Homeland Security is praising Kristi Noem for making the U.S. “safer” during her roughly one-year run leading the agency.
“President Trump and Secretary Noem restored the rule of law, delivered the most secure border ever, removed hundreds of thousands of dangerous illegal aliens, created safer communities, strengthened cyber defense, fixed disaster response, launched initiatives that are reshaping American air travel, and has made America safer for generations to come,” DHS wrote in a statement on Thursday.
Noem’s record at DHS is a complicated one.
Indeed, border-crossings plummeted under her leadership and the larger suite of restrictive immigration policies from the Trump administration.
In 2025, they hit a 55-year low.
At the same time, the administration has often overstated and mischaracterized the extent to which its immigration efforts have focused on violent threats to the country.
Less than 14 percent of those arrested by immigration officials during Trump’s first year had charges or convictions for violent offenses, according to a recent analysis.
The administration directed unprecedented funding levels to DHS under Noem, but this influx of resources has come with its own set of issues.
Immigration agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in January in quick succession as officers flooded into Minnesota, and a high-profile whistleblower claimed last month that new recruits are getting less training in key areas like firearms handling and civil rights, though the administration denies this.
Her most enduring safety legacy may be the even deeper partisanship and political chaos now surrounding the nation’s immigration policies.
Noem leaves a department that isn’t being funded because of a partial government shutdown, which began as Democrats sought to reform DHS.
The future of key DHS agencies, meanwhile, remains under doubt, with the administration reportedly considering plans to halve the size of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Less than 14% of those arrested by ICE had violent criminal records
First direct confirmation from DHS data that officials are wrongly stating administration’s priority is those with criminal backgroundsJosh Marcus6 March 2026 00:30'No decisions' have been made about Noem ally Corey Lewandowski's future
It is still unclear where Corey Lewandowski, a top aide to Kristi Noem, will end up now that Noem has been ousted as head of Homeland Security.
Lewandowski was an influential figure within the department, despite serving voluntarily, and was rumored to be in a romantic relationship with Noem. (They both deny the allegations.)
“No decisions have been made about my voluntary capacity,” he told NewsNation.
After Noem’s DHS firing by Trump, what comes next for top aide Corey Lewandowski
Lewandowski has wielded great power at the Department of Homeland Security by Noem’s sideJosh Marcus6 March 2026 00:10Democrats relish Noem firing with memes
(Gavin Newsom Press Office)Prominent Democrats are gleefully celebrating the unceremonious firing of Kristi Noem.
Sen. Tina Smith, whose home state Minnesota was rocked by an immigration operation earlier this year, shared an image on X of a blaring siren with the ironic caption, “Moment of silence for Kristi Noem’s career.”
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, meanwhile, posted a mocking awards show-style in memoriam montage that mourned Noem “and her hats,” a reference to the official’s penchant for getting suited up in tactical (and sometimes cowboy) gear to promote DHS actions.
Governors also got in on the action, with Illinois leader JB Pritzker posting a fake LinkedIn page showing Noem was “open to work,” while California Gov. Gavin Newsom shared an AI image of a puppy holding a newspaper with the headline, “TRUMP FIRES KRISTI NOEM.”
His caption, “Justice for Cricket,” was one of many references online to a now-infamous story from Noem that she killed an “untrainable” dog she once had.
Kristi Noem shot her dog. A new book now claims Trump viewed that as an ‘asset’
The president appears to agree with Kristi Noem’s assertion that shooting her dog was a tale of responsibility Josh Marcus5 March 2026 23:49Analysis: Inside the 'humiliating' end to Kristi Noem's short stint leading DHS
There are many ways to lose your job in Washington. You can resign gracefully. You can be forced out after a scandal. You can quietly “step aside” for the good of the administration.
And then there is the 2026 method: being fired in real time on social media by Donald Trump while you are literally about to take the stage at a conference.
Yes, sad news, everyone: Kristi Noem was speaking at an event being broadcast live from Nashville on Thursday when the president she had sworn fealty to announced to the world — via a characteristically exuberant Truth Social post — that she was no longer Secretary of Homeland Security. Instead, she would be “moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” which completely and totally sounds like a real job.
Her replacement, Trump announced, would be Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, whom the president praised as a “MAGA Warrior” and — perhaps most importantly in this administration’s personnel calculus — an “undefeated professional MMA fighter.”
The timing was exquisite. As Noem spoke, the news broke that her boss had effectively replaced her mid-sentence. (She was notified in a phone call from Trump — just before she got out of the limo for the event, per reports.) It was humiliating, chaotic and entirely predictable. It wasn’t made much better by the later statement that she’d already been aware of the demotion and that she’d be staying in her job until the end of March.
Holly Baxter has this analysis.
Everyone will be so sad to hear about the humiliating way Kristi Noem just got fired
We all saw this coming, writes Holly Baxter — and yet it was still an exercise in public embarrassment, especially so recently after being quizzed about her sex life and having a fellow Republican compare her ICE tenure to the time she shot her dogJosh Marcus5 March 2026 23:29Hegseth praises Noem and says he isn't worried about threats to U.S. amid DHS leadership shuffle
(Department of Defense)Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reassured Americans that the U.S. is not under a heightened threat because of the recently announced leadership shuffle at the Department of Homeland Security.
“I don't have any concerns about whether or not the homeland will be covered down on,” he said during a press briefing at U.S. Central Command in Florida on Thursday.
He also praised outgoing DHS boss Kristi Noem and expressed confidence in Sen. Markwayne Mullin, the Trump administration’s pick to replace her.
“I think Kristi Noem did an excellent job over there, securing our border and keeping us focused on threats,” Hegseth said.
“We all serve at the pleasure of the President,” he added. “I'm sure Markwayne Mullen will do a fantastic job. He's been a friend of mine for a long time, but Kristi did a great job setting this up for success.”
Despite Hegseth’s comments, there are some concerns about diminished U.S. capacity to counter the threat of the ongoing war.
The FBI reportedly fired Iran-focused experts in the days leading up to the conflict.
Patel fired key members of FBI’s Iran spy group days before US-Israel attack: report
The agents were fired just days before the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran Josh Marcus5 March 2026 22:52Kristi Noem hit with lawsuit in her final days
Kristi Noem was named on Thursday in an immigration lawsuit challenging a suite of restrictive Trump administration policies, in what may be one of the final public records of her time as Homeland Security Secretary.
The suit, filed in Rhode Island federal court, comes from advocacy groups challenging U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policies that have halted requests for asylum and immigration benefits, reconsidered past immigration decisions, and enacted parts of the president’s multi-nation travel ban.
The complaint alleges that Noem and her agencies have used these policies against immigrants in the U.S. and beyond to make “life so unbearable here that they are forced to leave.”
More on some of the policies being challenged here.
Noem leaves her post at the end of this month.
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