Washington, United States. Kristi Noem will leave her role as U.S. homeland security chief at the end of the month after overseeing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and facing bipartisan criticism in hearings this week. Trump said he will tap Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin to replace her, a move requiring U.S. Senate confirmation.
Planned leadership change at DHS
Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he plans to name Mullin to succeed Noem. 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, highlighting cases of alleged criminal offenders and using vitriolic language.
Minneapolis shootings and public backlash
Noem faced criticism in January when she quickly labeled two U.S. citizens fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis as committing “domestic terrorism.” Videos that emerged after the deaths undercut the assertion by Noem and other Trump officials that the two deceased, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were violent aggressors.
The backlash over the deaths led the Trump administration to move to a more targeted approach to immigration enforcement in Minnesota after months of sweeps through U.S. cities that led to violent clashes with residents opposing the crackdown.
Congressional criticism and ad campaign questions
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives moved to impeach Noem, and at least two Republicans in Congress called for her to lose her job after the incidents. During congressional hearings in March, Democrats and some Republicans criticized Noem for her approach to the immigration crackdown and management of DHS, including concern over a $220 million ad campaign that heavily featured Noem.
Trump told Reuters on Thursday that he did not sign off on the ad campaign. “I never knew anything about it,” he said in a phone interview.
The ads prominently featured Noem, including a scene of her on horseback at Mount Rushmore in her home state of South Dakota. In one of the congressional hearings this week, U.S. Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, asked Noem if Trump had approved the commercials.
What do you think the Senate will focus on most during confirmation hearings for Markwayne Mullin?