United States President Donald Trump has announced that Kristi Noem will be replaced as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), marking the first major change to his cabinet since his re-election.<\/p>\n
Noem, who has overseen Trump\u2019s controversial immigration crackdown, will instead serve as a special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a newly created security initiative.<\/p>\n list of 1 item<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Her removal follows a tense, two-day congressional hearing on Capitol Hill, during which Noem faced a rare, united front of bipartisan hostility.<\/p>\n Trump has nominated Senator Markwayne Mullin to replace her. The change is expected to take effect on March 31.<\/p>\n Here is what we know:<\/p>\n Kristi Noem, 54, was the former Republican governor of South Dakota and recently served as the Secretary of Homeland Security in Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n In that role, she oversaw some of Trump\u2019s key campaign priorities, including efforts to tighten security along the US-Mexico border and accelerate deportations of undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n Her tenure was marked by high-profile immigration enforcement operations that were often publicised on social media, with Noem at times accompanying federal agents during arrests.<\/p>\n During this sweeping immigration crackdown across the US, two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, were fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis earlier this year.<\/p>\n Noem also supervised the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its disaster response operations.<\/p>\n In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump wrote that he was removing Noem from her position.<\/p>\n Despite the move, he praised her tenure, saying she \u201chas served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!)\u201d.<\/p>\n Trump added that Noem would be reassigned to a newly created role as special envoy for the \u201cShield of the Americas\u201d, a security initiative focused on the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n To replace her, Trump said he would nominate Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, whom he described as a \u201cMAGA warrior\u201d, to lead the Homeland Security Department.<\/p>\n The announcement came following controversy over a $220m border security advertising campaign featuring Noem on horseback. After Noem told Congress that Trump had approved the campaign, Trump denied involvement.<\/p>\n In a phone interview with the Reuters news agency, he said: \u201cI never knew anything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s decision to reassign Noem followed a two-day congressional hearing on Capitol Hill, during which the Homeland Security Secretary faced questioning about her actions from members of both parties.<\/p>\n Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera\u2019s Alan Fisher said Noem was \u201cdestroyed under questioning\u201d, citing a series of controversies that made her continued leadership difficult.<\/p>\n Some of those include:<\/p>\n Noem faced severe backlash over the deaths of two US citizen protesters, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were fatally shot by federal agents as immigration enforcement operations were under way in Minneapolis earlier this year and whose deaths had prompted nationwide protests.<\/p>\n Critics of the operation accused the administration of using excessive force and demanded an independent investigation.<\/p>\n Lawmakers also accused Noem of running a \u201csmear campaign\u201d by labelling the deceased as \u201cdomestic terrorists\u201d in the wake of the killings, and criticised her for barring local investigators from the crime scenes.<\/p>\n \u201cRepublicans and Democrats were querying her handling of what happened in Minnesota, the death of two American citizens that she described initially as domestic terrorists, which proved to be untrue,\u201d Fisher reported.<\/p>\n Noem was grilled about a roughly $220m border security advertising campaign that prominently featured her, including promotional footage of her on horseback near Mount Rushmore.<\/p>\n The contracts for the campaign drew criticism after they were awarded to firms with Republican political ties, including a subcontractor linked to people close to Noem. During congressional hearings, Noem said Trump had approved the campaign, but the president later told Reuters he \u201cnever knew anything about it\u201d.<\/p>\n Both Democrats and Republicans criticised Noem\u2019s handling of emergency responses, such as the deadly Texas floods in July 2025 and Hurricane Helene in 2024.<\/p>\n Critics said her management style slowed some disaster response funding and reimbursements to states.<\/p>\n The Shield of the Americas is a new US national security initiative focused on the Western Hemisphere, which Trump has established.<\/p>\n The initiative reflects Trump\u2019s push to expand US security operations across the Western Hemisphere, including greater military and intelligence deployments, and is based on the Monroe Doctrine on \u201cspheres of influence\u201d, now dubbed the \u201cDonroe Doctrine\u201c.<\/p>\n The programme aims to dismantle cartels, combat drug trafficking and counter Chinese influence in Latin America.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Noem said the goal of the newfound summit is to \u201cpromote freedom, security and prosperity in our region\u201d. Part of that includes partnering with 12 other countries to \u201caddress criminal narcoterrorist gangs and cartels and counter illegal and mass migration\u201d.<\/p>\n Senator Mullin, 48, is one of Trump\u2019s fiercest supporters on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n A former business owner and undefeated MMA fighter with a 5-0 professional record, Mullin served for a decade in the House of Representatives before moving to the Senate in 2023. Known for his \u201cMAGA Warrior\u201d persona, he has long acted as a key intermediary between the White House and congressional Republicans.<\/p>\n If confirmed, Mullin, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, would be the first Native American to lead the DHS.<\/p>\n He describes himself on his website as \u201ca successful business owner, working cow-calf rancher, and proud husband of 28 years to Mrs Christie Mullin\u201d.<\/p>\n He has previously supported Homeland Security policy and the administration\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n \u201cObstructing federal law enforcement is a felony. Most Americans follow ICE instructions without thinking twice,\u201d Mullin said on social media following the death of Pretti.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera\u2019s Fisher said the administration expects Mullin to be a \u201cbetter administrator\u201d than his predecessor.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though Kristi Noem is a former governor, the White House didn\u2019t feel she was running the organisation properly,\u201d Fisher noted. \u201cThey feel they need someone with the experience of navigating the federal machine, and they believe Mullin is that person.\u201d<\/p>\n While President Trump has announced that the official handover will take place on March 31, the transition is not as simple.<\/p>\n \u201c[Trump] doesn\u2019t just get to do that,\u201d Fisher said, because DHS secretary is a Senate-approved position.<\/p>\n \u201cSo he has got to go through a Senate hearing with a committee, chaired by someone who described him as a snake,\u201d Fisher reported.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are Democrats who want to make sure that Mullen will talk about how to change the way ICE operates; if he doesn\u2019t deliver, they might not vote for him,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The Cherokee Nation released a statement Thursday, calling the nomination \u201chistoric\u201d and noting that Mullin is both a senator from Oklahoma and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n United States President Donald Trump has announced that Kristi Noem will be replaced as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), marking the first major change to his cabinet since his re-election. Noem, who has overseen Trump\u2019s controversial immigration crackdown, will instead serve as a special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-explained"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Who is Kristi Noem?<\/h2>\n
![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/reuters_69a9d5e2-1772738018.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C1155&quality=80\")
What has Trump announced?<\/h2>\n
What led to Trump\u2019s reassignment of Noem?<\/h2>\n
Minneapolis shootings:<\/h3>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-01-27T000426Z_1174975812_RC2A9JAKJHRO_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-MINNESOTA-1769497591.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80\")
Controversial $220m advertisement campaign:<\/h3>\n
FEMA mismanagement and disaster response:<\/h3>\n
What is The Shield of the Americas?<\/h2>\n
Who is Markwayne Mullin?<\/h2>\n
![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-03-05T200528Z_1801535105_RC2JYJAFY67X_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-MIGRATION-NOEM-1772752353.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C499&quality=80\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"