Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Mar 6: Donald Trump, President of the United States, announced on Thursday that Kristi Noem will step down as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), marking a major shift in leadership overseeing the administration’s immigration crackdown.
Trump said Markwayne Mullin, a US senator from Oklahoma, will take over as Homeland Security Secretary effective March 31, 2026. The announcement was made on Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social.
Noem, a former governor of South Dakota, will instead serve as “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” according to the president.
Noem emerged as one of the most prominent members of Trump’s cabinet after taking office in January 2025, frequently defending the administration’s tough immigration policies. Her social media posts often highlighted alleged crimes involving migrants and used strong rhetoric against illegal immigration.
However, she faced intense criticism earlier this year after two US citizens were fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Noem initially described the incident as an act of “domestic terrorism,” but later-released videos raised doubts about that claim and triggered public backlash.
The controversy led to calls for accountability in U.S. House of Representatives, where Democrats moved to impeach Noem, while at least two Republicans also urged her removal.
The leadership change comes amid debate over the future direction of Trump’s immigration policy. During Noem’s tenure, immigration enforcement intensified in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., with agents carrying out sweeping operations targeting suspected immigration violators.
The aggressive approach drew criticism after several US citizens were detained and confrontations erupted between agents and residents. Deportation numbers also fell short of the administration’s stated goal of one million deportations annually.
Despite Noem’s high-profile role, Trump’s long-time aide Stephen Miller, currently serving as White House Deputy Chief of Staff, has remained a key architect of the administration’s immigration agenda.
Under Noem’s leadership, the Department of Homeland Security tightened border enforcement and scaled back several legal immigration programs. She ended certain Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections that had allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants from countries such as Venezuela and Haiti to live and work in the United States.
She also advocated stricter vetting of migrants and even suggested imposing a sweeping travel ban following an alleged attack by an Afghanistan-born immigrant in Washington, D.C.
Critics accused Noem of demonising immigrants and targeting non-criminal migrants, while rights groups pointed to rising deaths in immigration detention during her tenure and significant cuts to oversight staff within DHS.
With Mullin set to assume leadership of the department later this month, analysts say the move could signal either an escalation or recalibration of the Trump administration’s immigration strategy.