US President Donald Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday after months of controversy, including the fatal shootings of US citizens by federal officers in Minneapolis and questions from lawmakers over a $220 million advertising contract.
The Republican president will tap Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her before the end of the month, he said on his Truth Social platform Thursday. The appointment would require confirmation by the US Senate.
Noem, a former governor of South Dakota, became one of Trump’s most high-profile cabinet secretaries, with social media posts that portrayed immigrants in harsh terms, highlighted alleged criminal acts and used vicious language.
Her departure, after emerging as the face of an aggressive immigration backlash that had become unpopular according to recent polls, could allow Trump to reset his approach to immigration policy, a central part of his agenda.
Shortly after Trump announced Noem’s replacement, she wrote on X: “We have accomplished historic feats at the Department of Homeland Security to make America safe again.”
During congressional hearings this week, Democrats and some Republicans criticized Noem for her approach to immigration enforcement and management of her department, including concerns over a $220 million advertising campaign that featured Noem heavily and had been awarded to two longtime Republican agents without a standard bidding process.
Noem’s personal life also came under scrutiny, with a Democratic lawmaker asking Wednesday if she had a sexual relationship with top aide Corey Lewandowski. Both are married.
Noem called the question from U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove “tabloid trash.” Lewandowski did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Trump said Reuters on Thursday that he did not sign off on the ad campaign, which featured Noem and included a scene of her riding a horse on Mount Rushmore in her home state of South Dakota.
In a congressional hearing this week, Noem told Republican US Senator John Kennedy that Trump had approved the ad campaign.
First Senate-confirmed cabinet member fired in Trump 2.0
Noem is the first Senate-confirmed member of Trump’s cabinet to be removed this term. During Trump’s 2017-2021 term, 14 confirmed Cabinet appointees, who serve in line after the presidency, resigned or were fired.
Noem faced criticism in January when she quickly charged two U.S. citizens fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis with “domestic terrorism.” Videos that emerged after the deaths undermine Noem’s and other Trump officials’ claim that the two deceased — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were violent aggressors.
The public backlash over the deaths prompted the Trump administration to adopt a more targeted approach to immigration enforcement in Minnesota, after months of sweeps across US cities that sparked violent clashes between federal agents and residents who opposed the crackdown.
Two Trump administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter, said the fallout from the fatal shootings, the $220 million contract, DHS mismanagement and the affair allegations all contributed to her firing.
Democrats in the US House of Representatives moved to impeach Noem, and at least two Republicans in Congress called for her to lose her job after the Minnesota shootings.
Trump said on the Truth Social that Noem would be named an envoy to a planned summit in Miami to bolster his Western Hemisphere policy.
Within minutes of Trump’s announcement about her replacement, Noem spoke at a law enforcement event in Tennessee for 40 minutes, but did not mention her departure.
Noem was aware she would be removed before she spoke at the event, said one of the officials and another person familiar with the matter, who both spoke on condition of anonymity.
They added that Lewandowski was also expected to leave the department. DHS and the White House did not immediately comment when asked about Lewandowski’s future.
Strong embrace of Trump’s tough immigration approach
Mullin, who spent a decade in the House of Representatives before becoming a senator in 2023, also supports Trump’s tough immigration agenda.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Mullin said he had not expected the call from Trump. He described Noem as a friend and said he hadn’t had a chance to call her yet.
“She was tasked with a very difficult job,” Mullin told reporters.
Democrats in Congress have blocked funding for DHS since mid-February, saying federal immigration enforcement needs to be reformed.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Noem’s firing would not be enough to break the impasse.
“The problems at ICE transcend any one person,” he told reporters. “The president needs to end the violence and rein in ICE.”
Trump’s immigration approach lost popularity as agents detained American citizens and tear-gassed streets in an effort to drive up deportations, which last year fell short of the administration’s goal of 1 million a year.
While Noem, 54, served as a prominent advocate 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 referred to immigrants convicted of crimes as “filth,” even as the number of non-criminals arrested by immigration officials increased under 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.
