Trump fires Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary : NPR

President Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and said Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma would replace her.

Noem “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 posted on social media. “I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland.'”

Noem is the first Cabinet secretary to leave the Trump administration in Trump’s second term. The announcement comes after Noem spent two days being grilled by lawmakers in Congress over her leadership.

Mullin has been a defender of the president and his immigration agenda.

“A MAGA Warrior, and former undefeated professional MMA fighter, Markwayne truly gets along well with people, and knows the Wisdom and Courage required to Advance our America First Agenda,” Trump said in his post, highlighting Mullin’s position as the only Native American in the Senate. “Markwayne will make a spectacular Secretary of Homeland Security. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing last month.

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Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Mullin will need to be confirmed by the Senate to take on the role permanently.

Noem, who was formerly South Dakota’s governor, had been at the forefront of Trump’s efforts to carry out mass deportations. Following her confirmation, she quickly became the face of the administration’s immigration agenda — making multimillion-dollar ads urging people to self-deport, conducting press conferences around the U.S. touting deportation numbers, and conducting international visits geared at promoting Trump’s vision.

She is the highest-profile departure in recent weeks at the agency. Madison Sheahan, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement deputy director, left her post at the start of the year to run for Congress. Top agency spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin left her role last month.

At the start of her second year on the job, Noem faced bipartisan criticism over her leadership of an immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, where she deployed 3,000 officers and two U.S. citizens were killed. Some of the loudest voices on the right for her resignation came from Sens. Thom Tillis, N.C., who is not running for reelection, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Other Republicans denounced Noem after she referred to 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was shot by two border patrol agents, as a “domestic terrorist” before any investigation had begun. Following the event, Congress, amid opposition from Democrats, failed to pass a budget to fund the Homeland Security Department and attempted to negotiate immigration enforcement reforms.

Noem was asked to testify before the Senate and House judiciary committees in early March — as her agency was in the third week of a shut down. She said 100,000 employees were furloughed including those who work in cybersecurity and disaster relief.

During the hearings she sparred with lawmakers of both parties over the tactics used by immigration officers, spending at her agency and her broader leadership. Noem also received questions regarding a letter sent by DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, which accused Noem’s department of having “systematically obstructed the work of the DHS Office of Inspector General” as he sought data related to immigrant arrests, airport security programs and counterintelligence. 

Noem was the face of the mass deportation agenda 

During Noem’s time helming the 250,000 person agency, DHS was at the center of an ambitious effort to arrest, detain and deport 1 million people without legal status per year. Data from DHS released in the fall shows the department deported 605,000 people and has a historic high number of people in immigration detention.

As secretary, Noem oversaw the start of a hiring surge to bring on thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and the proliferation of Border Patrol agents as enforcers throughout the country.

Noem’s confirmation out of the Senate sailed through, despite questions over how much money the agency was asking for to conduct immigration enforcement and policy directives coming from personnel high up at the White House, such as border czar Tom Homan.

While on the job, Noem drew scrutiny over the handling of national disaster relief and resources and her selection of Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign aide, for a DHS special employee advisory role. Noem’s DHS has also consistently ended up in the crosshairs of legal scrutiny — from immigration courts to the Supreme court. Federal district judges have blocked DHS from using wartime powers to expedite deportations, and ordered some deportees returned.

If confirmed, Mullins will advise the president on a wide range of security issues. This also includes being in charge of the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and a prominent role in counter-terrorism, aviation security and cybersecurity.

Turnover within Trump’s Cabinet has been minimal this term so far. Over the course of his first term, Trump had five DHS secretaries, including three who were acting secretaries.