One of the top officials overseeing Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, will leave her role, the US president said on Thursday, a major staffing move that raises questions about the direction of the Republican president’s immigration agenda.
“I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026,” Trump wrote on social media.
Noem will serve as “Special envoy for The Shield of the Americas”, Trump said. She is the first Cabinet secretary to leave during the president’s second term.
Noem, who appeared at a law enforcement event in Nashville, Tennessee, moments after Trump’s announcement, did not address her ousting there. She read from prepared remarks and was not asked by attendees about the development.
Later, in a social media post, she thanked Trump for the new appointment and touted her accomplishments as secretary. “We have made historic accomplishments at the Department of Homeland Security to make America safe again,” she said.
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Noem, a former governor of South Dakota, became one of Trump’s most high-profile cabinet secretaries with social media posts that portrayed immigrants in harsh terms, highlighting cases of alleged criminal offenders and using vitriolic language.