Kristi Noem is out as head of Homeland Security

Published

2026-03-05 13:28

1:28

March 5, 2026

pm

America/Chicago

Kristi Noem is out as the head of the Department of Homeland Security. 

President Donald Trump announced in a Thursday post on Truth Social that he was tapping Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma to replace Noem effective March 31; he must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. 

“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,” Trump wrote. “I thank Kristi for her service at ‘‘Homeland.’”

Noem, a former Republican governor of South Dakota and U.S. representative, is the first Cabinet official Trump has ousted in his second term. News of Noem’s removal spread as she was giving a keynote speech to the Sergeants Benevolent Association, a law enforcement union, and answering specific questions about her department’s work on immigration and her plans to meet with other law enforcement groups. It was not clear during the question-and-answer session whether she knew about Trump’s announcement.

The firing came after Noem’s combative testimony before Senate and House committees this week, where she faced criticism and tough questioning not only from Democrats but from GOP Sens. Thom Tillis and John Kennedy. Noem and the department have come under scrutiny over the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement and Noem’s use of official resources. 

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Noem was sidelined after federal immigration agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, during the administration’s immigration surge in Minneapolis. After the shootings, Trump put Tom Homan, the White House border czar, in charge of the operation in Minnesota. 

During the Senate committee hearing, Tillis, a retiring North Carolina senator and noted dog lover, excoriated Noem over the killings and over her description of shooting a 14-month-old dog and a goat in her 2024 book, “No Going Back.” 

“You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time in training. And then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it’s a leadership lesson about tough choices?” Tillis said. 

“But my point is, those are bad decisions made in the heat of the moment — not unlike what happened up in Minneapolis,” he added. “We’re an exceptional nation, and one of the reasons we’re exceptional is we expect exceptional leadership, and you’ve demonstrated anything but that.”

Tillis also threatened to put a hold on the Trump administration’s nominees and to stall the advancement of legislation in committees he serves on if Noem didn’t resign or respond to accusations she’d stymied internal investigations. Lawmakers’ frustrations with Noem and the department have contributed to lawmakers declining to renew the agency’s funding last month, and momentum was building among House Democrats to impeach Noem. 

Outlets including the National Review and NBC News reported that Trump was also displeased with Noem testifying under oath that he was aware of and signed off on $220 million in taxpayer-funded advertisements in which Noem urged immigrants to leave voluntarily. 

Kennedy, a Louisiana senator and staunch conservative, pressed Noem over the ad campaign and the no-bid contracting process behind it. 

“It’s just hard for me to believe, knowing the president as I do, that you said, ‘Mr. President, here’s some ads I’ve cut, and I’m going to spend $220 million running them,’ that he would have agreed to that,” Kennedy said. Noem said the president asked her to make the ad campaign and the contract was awarded by department officials, not her directly. 

“The president of the United States called me, and I’m not going to speak for him, folks, but, I would put it this way: his recollection and her recollection are different,” Kennedy told reporters after the hearing, according to NBC News. 

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