Trump removes Kristi Noem as DHS secretary and nominates Markwayne Mullin

President Donald Trump’s decision to remove Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security came together quickly, surprising many officials across the agency even as tensions between Noem and the White House had been building for weeks.

Trump announced on Truth Social that he intends to nominate Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace Noem. The announcement came while Noem was delivering remarks at the Sergeant Benevolent Association Major Cities Conference in Nashville. According to officials, Trump spoke with her briefly by phone just before she took the stage to inform her of the decision.

Inside DHS, many officials had already sensed trouble. The department had faced growing political backlash after an aggressive immigration crackdown in Minneapolis that ended in the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Critics across the political spectrum questioned whether the operations carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection were too broad and poorly executed.

Trump’s earlier move to place border adviser Tom Homan in charge of winding down the Minneapolis operation was widely interpreted as a sign of frustration with Noem’s leadership. Under Homan’s direction, the administration shifted away from large urban immigration sweeps and instead focused enforcement efforts on undocumented immigrants with criminal records.

At the same time, internal tensions inside DHS were growing. Officials said Noem’s directive requiring her personal approval for contracts and grants above $100,000 created delays for programs considered mission-critical, including some disaster relief funding managed by FEMA. Senior leaders also privately complained about what they described as micromanagement by Noem and adviser Corey Lewandowski.

Lewandowski’s influence inside the department drew additional scrutiny after a widely reported incident in which he reportedly demanded to know where Noem’s blanket was while aboard a Coast Guard aircraft and briefly fired a pilot during the exchange before the Coast Guard reinstated him.

Concerns about Noem’s leadership also surfaced publicly on Capitol Hill. Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Thom Tillis criticized the department amid a dispute between DHS leadership and Inspector General Joseph Cuffari over access to records related to airport security vulnerabilities.

Behind the scenes, Trump also grew frustrated with a roughly $220 million DHS advertising campaign that had drawn scrutiny from lawmakers.

Administration officials say Mullin is viewed inside the White House as someone who can quickly carry out Trump’s immigration agenda and restore discipline inside the department. Mullin must still be confirmed by the Senate before taking the role.

Noem’s final day as secretary is expected to be March 31. In a message to DHS employees, she said she will serve as special envoy for the administration’s “Shield of the Americas” initiative, working with senior officials to combat drug cartels operating across the Western Hemisphere.