President Donald Trump replacing Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary

PHOENIX — President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social Thursday that he was replacing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Trump said that Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma will become the DHS leader on March 31.

“I thank Kristi for her service,” Trump said.

Trump said Noem “has served us well” and “has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the border)!”

He didn’t give details about why he is replacing her. However, he gave details about the next position he wants her in: special envoy for the Shield of the Americas.

It’s the country’s new security initiative in the Western Hemisphere, which Trump said his administration will announce on Saturday in Doral, Florida.

His announcement came after two days of intense scrutiny in Congress.

Noem started testifying Tuesday in the Senate in her first congressional appearance since the shooting deaths of two protesters, poet Renee Nicole Good and nurse Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis by immigration enforcement officers.

Noem speaks publicly moments after Trump announces replacement

Noem took the stage to address a Department of Homeland Security event moments after Trump’s announcement but made no immediate mention of her ouster. Instead, she read from prepared remarks, including reinforcing Trump’s message from the State of the Union last month.

Noem is the first Cabinet secretary to leave during Trump’s second term. Noem’s departure caps a tumultuous tenure overseeing immigration enforcement tactics that have been met with protests and lawsuits.

Noem’s tenure looked increasingly short-lived after hearings in Congress this week where she faced rare but blistering criticism from Republican lawmakers. One particular point of scrutiny was a $220 million ad campaign featuring Noem that encouraged people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily.

Noem told lawmakers that Trump was aware of the campaign in advance, but Trump disputed that in an interview Thursday with Reuters, saying he did not sign off on the ad campaign.

Noem has faced waves of criticism as she’s overseen Trump’s immigration crackdown, especially since the shooting deaths of two protesters in Minneapolis at the hands of immigration enforcement officers. The former South Dakota governor was also criticized over the way her department has spent billions of dollars allocated to it by Congress.

Frustrations over Noem’s execution of the Republican president’s hard-line immigration agenda — particularly her leadership after the shooting deaths of the two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis — as well as her handling of disaster response, paved the way for her downfall. She faced blistering criticism from Democrats, and some Republicans, in Congress hearings this week over those issues and others.

Aside from immigration, Noem also faced criticism — including from Republicans — over the pace of emergency funding approved through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and for the Trump administration’s response to disasters.

Mullin would need to be confirmed by the Senate, but under a federal law governing executive branch vacancies, he would be allowed to serve as an acting Homeland Security secretary as long as his nomination is formally pending.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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