After months of criticism against her leadership, President Donald Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last week, making her the first Cabinet secretary to leave his second term.
Out with the old, in with the new: Trump announced the dismissal on social media but simultaneously named Noem “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” a new Western Hemisphere security initiative. The move came after a $220 million ad campaign urging immigrants to self-deport became a flashpoint at her hearings, with Noem telling lawmakers that Trump had signed off on it. He flatly denied that to NBC News, saying, “I spent less money than that to become president. I didn’t know about it.”
In an X post, Noem said her tenure had delivered “the MOST secure border in American history” and that “three million illegal aliens have left the U.S.” Trump tapped Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her.
Why this matters: Noem’s tenure was defined as much by its human costs as its enforcement record. In January, immigration officers fatally shot U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Noem publicly framed both as the aggressors despite surveillance footage and witness accounts to the contrary, and she maintained that position throughout her congressional testimony.
Beyond Minneapolis, the enforcement approach carried especially high stakes for Asian Americans, a point driven home at a Dec. 11 hearing when Rep. Seth Magaziner presented Purple Heart veteran Sae Joon Park, a Korean immigrant who self-deported to South Korea after officials canceled his deferred action.
What’s next: Once his nomination is pending, Mullin can serve as acting DHS secretary and take over a department mired in a weeks-long funding shutdown that has left much of its workforce going unpaid. He also inherits an aggressive enforcement model built around Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, whom Noem elevated to lead citywide sweeps in Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis.
Immigration advocates, however, see little reason for optimism. “This is not accountability, just a reshuffling of the enablers of the agenda of President Trump,” Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America’s Voice, told the Associated Press.
This story is part of The Rebel Yellow Newsletter — a bold weekly newsletter from the creators of NextShark, reclaiming our stories and celebrating Asian American voices.
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