US President Donald Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday after months of controversy, including over the fatal shootings of US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis and questions from lawmakers over a $220 million advertising contract.
The Republican president will call on Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin to replace her by the end of the month, he said Thursday on his Truth Social platform. This nomination “would require confirmation by the United States Senate.”
Noem, a former governor of South Dakota, became one of Trump’s most high-profile cabinet secretaries with social media posts describing immigrants in harsh terms, highlighting alleged criminal offenses and using vitriolic language.
His departure, after emerging as the face of an aggressive crackdown on immigration that has become unpopular according to recent polls, could allow Trump to review his approach to immigration policy, a centerpiece of his program.
Shortly after Trump announced Noem’s replacement, she posted on X: “We have made historic achievements at the Department of Homeland Security to make America safe again.”
In congressional hearings this week, Democrats and some Republicans criticized Noem for her approach to immigration enforcement and management of her department, including raising concerns that a $220 million ad campaign featuring Noem was awarded to two longtime Republican operatives without a standard bidding process.
Noem’s personal life has also come under scrutiny, with a Democratic lawmaker asking her Wednesday whether she had a sexual relationship with her top aide Corey Lewandowski. Both are married.
Noem called U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove’s question “tabloid trash.” Lewandowski did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Trump said Reuters On Thursday, he did not approve the ad campaign, which prominently featured Noem and included a scene of her riding a horse at Mount Rushmore in her home state of South Dakota.
At a congressional hearing this week, Noem told Republican U.S. Sen. John Kennedy that Trump approved the ad campaign.
First Senate-confirmed cabinet member fired during Trump 2.0
Noem is the first Senate-confirmed member of Trump’s Cabinet to be removed from office this term. During Trump’s 2017-2021 term, 14 confirmed Cabinet members, who serve in the line of succession to the presidency, resigned or were fired.
Noem came under fire in January when she quickly accused two U.S. citizens fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis of “domestic terrorism.” Videos that emerged after those deaths contradicted the assertion by Noem and other Trump officials that the two deceased — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were violent attackers.
Public backlash over the deaths led the Trump administration to take a more targeted approach to immigration enforcement in Minnesota, after months of sweeps in U.S. cities that sparked violent clashes between federal agents and residents opposed to the crackdown.
Two Trump administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter, said the aftermath of the deadly shooting, the $220 million contract, DHS mismanagement and allegations in the affair all contributed to his firing.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives moved to impeach Noem, and at least two congressional Republicans called for her to lose her job after the Minnesota shooting.
Trump said on Truth Social that Noem would be named envoy to a planned summit in Miami to strengthen his Western Hemisphere policy.
Minutes after Trump’s message about her replacement, Noem spoke for 40 minutes at a law enforcement event in Tennessee, but did not mention her departure.
Noem knew she would be deported before speaking at the event, said one of the officials and another person familiar with the matter, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.
They added that Lewandowski should also leave the department. DHS and the White House did not immediately comment when asked about Lewandowski’s future.
Strong support for Trump’s radical approach to immigration
Mullin, who spent a decade in the House of Representatives before becoming a senator in 2023, also supports Trump’s hardline immigration agenda.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Mullin said he didn’t expect Trump’s call. He described Noem as a friend and said he hadn’t had a chance to call her yet.
“She was tasked with doing a very difficult job,” Mullin told reporters.
Congressional Democrats have blocked funding for DHS since mid-February, saying federal immigration enforcement needs to be reformed.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said firing Noem would not be enough to break the impasse.
“ICE’s problems transcend any one person,” he told reporters. “The president must end the violence and rein in ICE.”
Trump’s approach to immigration has lost popularity as agents have arrested U.S. citizens and flooded the streets with tear gas to try to increase deportations, which last year fell short of the administration’s goal of 1 million a year.
While Noem, 54, has been a prominent defender of Trump’s agenda, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, a longtime Trump aide, controls Trump’s immigration policy.
Noem was quickly confirmed to lead the 260,000-employee department in January 2025 after Trump took office. On social media, she called immigrants convicted of crimes “bastards,” even as the number of non-criminals arrested by immigration authorities increased under Trump.
She joined immigration enforcement operations on the ground in New York 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 a lawyer.
