SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Washington: US President Donald Trump has sacked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversaw controversial immigration raids in major American cities, and now becomes the first person dumped from his cabinet in his second term.
Trump announced on Truth Social that Noem would be replaced by Oklahoma senator Markwayne Mullin at the end of the month. Noem, “who has served us well”, would become special envoy for a new Western hemisphere security initiative, he said.
It followed intense speculation in Washington that Trump may move against Noem after her testimony before Senate and House of Representatives committees this week.
Noem refused to apologise for labelling US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti as “domestic terrorists” in the hours after they were killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, in two separate January incidents. Noem said she was relying on information provided by agents at the “chaotic scene”.
She was also grilled over a $US220 million ($315 million) advertising campaign encouraging illegal immigrants to self-deport, in which she featured heavily, as well as her relationship with her defacto chief of staff Corey Lewandowski.
Asked whether she ever had sexual relations with Lewandowski, as widely rumoured in Washington, Noem replied: “I am shocked we’re peddling tabloid garbage in this committee.”
Trump was reportedly dissatisfied with Noem’s responses at the committee, including her testimony that the president signed off on the expensive advertising campaign.
“POTUS did not sign off on a $220 MILLION dollar ad campaign. Absolutely not,” a White House official told NBC News earlier.
In a post on X, Noem thanked Trump for the new appointment, and said she looked forward to working with other cabinet members to dismantle drug cartels in the Western hemisphere. More than 3 million illegal immigrants had left the country under her watch, she said.
Trump praised Noem for delivering “numerous and spectacular results”, and emphasised her role in cutting illegal crossings on the southern border.
But pressure had been building on her since the fatal shootings in Minneapolis. Trump effectively sidelined her and Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino by installing his own adviser, Tom Homan, to take control of the operation in Minnesota and “de-escalate a little bit”.
Under Noem’s leadership, masked immigration agents surged into US cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, scouring neighbourhoods, car washes and shopping centre car parks for illegal immigrants.
Polls indicated the popularity of Trump’s immigration approach fell as agents detained US citizens and tear-gassed streets in an attempt to drive up deportations, which last year fell short of the administration’s goal of 1 million per year.
A former Republican governor of South Dakota and at one point a contender to become Trump’s vice president, Noem also gained notoriety for revealing in a 2024 memoir that she had shot and killed her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, along with a family goat.
Democrats, who had been pursuing Noem on several fronts, including the department’s purchases of luxury jets, reacted with glee to her ousting.
“Well now we don’t have to impeach her,” said Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee.
Minnesota’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz – who clashed fiercely with Noem at the height of ICE’s deployment to his state – said Noem had done a “stunning” amount of damage, “and it’s good she’s gone”.
But that did not change the need for a complete overhaul of her department, and impartial investigations into the deaths of Good and Pretti, Walz zaid.
With Reuters
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.
