Trump fires Kristi Noem as homeland secretary after storm over immigration shootings, spending

Summary

• Kristi Noem is leaving as homeland security chief; Trump will nominate Senator Markwayne Mullin, who supports hardline immigration, pending Senate confirmation.
• Noem faced bipartisan criticism for her aggressive immigration crackdown, controversial ad campaign, and falsely labelling deceased US citizens as “domestic terrorists.”
• Noem’s tenure saw increased immigration enforcement, targeting non-criminals, rising detention deaths, and cuts to legal immigration, drawing public and political backlash.

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary (DHS) Kristi Noem on March 5 after months of controversy, including the fatal shootings of two US citizens
by federal officers in Minneapolis and lawmakers’ questions over a US$220 million (S$281 million) advertising contract.

The Republican president will tap Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin to replace her by the end of March, he said on his Truth Social platform on March 5. The appointment would require US Senate confirmation.

Ms Noem, a former governor of South Dakota, became one of Mr Trump’s most high-profile Cabinet secretaries, with social media posts that portrayed immigrants in harsh terms, highlighting cases of alleged criminal offenders and using vitriolic language.

Her departure, after emerging as the face of an aggressive immigration crackdown that had grown unpopular according to recent polling, could allow Mr Trump to reset his approach on immigration policy, a centrepiece of his agenda.

Shortly after Mr Trump announced Ms Noem’s replacement, she posted on X: “We have made historic accomplishments at the Department of Homeland Security to make America safe again.”

During congressional hearings earlier in the week, Democrats and some Republicans criticised Ms Ms Noem for her approach to immigration enforcement and management of her department, including concern over a $220 million advertising campaign that featured her heavily and had been awarded to two longtime Republican operatives without a standard bidding process.

Ms Noem’s personal life also came under scrutiny, with a Democratic lawmaker on March 4 asking whether she had a sexual relationship with top aide Corey Lewandowski.

Both are married.

Ms Noem called the question from US Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove “tabloid garbage”.

Mr Lewandowski did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Mr Trump told Reuters on March 5 that he did not sign off on the ad campaign, which prominently featured Ms Noem and included a scene of her on horseback at Mount Rushmore, in her home state of South Dakota.

In one congressional hearing earlier in the week, Ms Noem had told Republican US Senator John Kennedy that Mr Trump had approved the ad campaign.

First Senate-confirmed Cabinet member fired in Trump 2.0

Ms Noem is the first Senate-confirmed member of Mr Trump’s Cabinet to be removed this term.

In Mr Trump’s 2017-2021 term in office, 14 confirmed Cabinet appointees, who serve in the line of succession to the presidency, quit or were fired.

Ms Noem She faced criticism in January when she quickly labelled two US citizens fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis as committing “domestic terrorism”.

Videos that emerged after the deaths undercut the assertion by Ms Noem and other Trump officials that the two deceased - Renee Good and Alex Pretti - were violent aggressors.

The public backlash for deaths led the Trump administration to move to a more targeted approach
to immigration enforcement in Minnesota after months of sweeps through US cities that led to violent clashes with residents opposing the crackdown.

Two Trump administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter, said the fallout over the fatal shootings, the US$220 million contract, the mismanagement of DHS and the allegations of the affair all contributed to her firing.

Democrats in the US House of Representatives moved to impeach Ms Noem, and at least two Republicans in Congress called for her to lose her job after the shootings in Minnesota.

Mr Trump said on Truth Social that Ms Noem would be appointed envoy to a planned summit in Miami to reinforce his Western Hemisphere policies.

Within minutes of Mr Trump’s post about her replacement, Ms Noem spoke at a law enforcement event in Tennessee for 40 minutes but did not mention her departure.

Ms Noem was aware she would be removed before she spoke at the event, one of the officials and another person familiar with the matter said, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.

They added that Mr Lewandowski was also expected to leave the department.

DHS and the White House did not immediately comment when asked about Mr Lewandowski’s future.

Strong embrace of Trump’s hardline immigration approach

Mr Mullin, who spent a decade in the House of Representatives before becoming a senator in 2023, also supports Mr Trump’s hardline immigration agenda.

Speaking to reporters on March 5, Mr Mullin said he had not been expecting the call from Mr Trump.

He described Ms Noem as a friend and said he had not had a chance to call her yet.

“She was tasked to do a very difficult job,” Mr Mullin told reporters. Democrats in Congress have blocked funding for DHS since mid-February, saying federal immigration enforcement must be reformed.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Ms Noem’s firing would not be enough to break the stalemate.

“The problems at ICE transcend any one person,” he told reporters. “The president has to end the violence and rein in ICE.” 

The popularity of Mr Trump’s immigration approach fell as agents detained US citizens and tear-gassed streets in an attempt to drive up deportations, which in 2025 fell short of the administration’s goal of one million a year.

While Ms Noem, 54, served as a prominent proponent of Mr Trump’s agenda, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, a long-time Trump aide, controls Mr Trump’s immigration policy.

Ms Noem was quickly confirmed
to lead the 260,000-employee Department of Homeland Security in January 2025 after Mr Trump took office.

On social media, she referred to immigrants convicted of crimes as “scumbags” even as the number of non-criminals arrested by immigration authorities rose under Mr Trump.

She joined immigration enforcement operations on the ground
in New York City and visited a maximum-security prison in El Salvador where Venezuelan immigrants deported by the Trump administration were being held without charges or access to lawyers. REUTERS