WASHINGTON ― In a stunning move, President Donald Trump announced Thursday he fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and is tapping Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to replace her at the end of the month.

“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 posted on social media.

“The current Secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!), will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida,” he said.

“I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland,’” the president added.

The White House hasn’t formally nominated Mullin to the post yet, and he still has to be confirmed by the Senate to get the job.

Noem later thanked Trump for her new appointment and boasted of her “historic accomplishments” at DHS.

“We delivered the MOST secure border in American history, 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S., we have located 145,000 children,” she wrote on social media later that afternoon. “FEMA delivered disaster relief at a 100% faster rate, we ushered in the golden age of travel, saved the American taxpayer $13 billion and revitalized the U.S. Coast Guard.”

But Noem’s legacy at DHS, which she’s led since January 2025, will be largely defined by her sloppiness, scandals and potential law-breaking.

On her watch, thousands of federal immigration enforcement agents descended on Minnesota and spent months brutalizing immigrants, terrorizing communities, and fatally shooting two Minneapolis residents: U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Noem, without any evidence, characterized both Good and Pretti as domestic terrorists — an allegation which other officials said was not true — to justify the agents’ actions.

Noem has also come under fire for spending $220 million in taxpayer money on a flashy DHS ad campaign that prominently features her riding around on a horse in a cowboy hat at Mount Rushmore. A huge chunk of those federal dollars was secretly awarded to a firm with ties to Noem, a firm that was stood up just eight days before the contract went out.

She’s also faced allegations of misleading or straight-up lying to Congress under oath about various actions she’s taken, ranging from the role of her top aide, Corey Lewandowski, in approving contracts, to the reality that her department has been detaining American citizens in its sweep of supposed criminals in the country illegally.

In still another scandal, Noem has faced allegations of having an inappropriate personal relationship with Lewandowski, who made headlines last month for entering the cockpit of a government jet mid-flight and firing the pilot over a misplaced blanket. The pilot had to be immediately reinstated as there was no one else to fly Noem and Lewandowski back home.

Trump’s decision to fire Noem seems directly tied to the bipartisan condemnation she faced this week before Congress, as she testified to House and Senate committees during oversight hearings.

Democrats have been demanding her resignation for months over her reckless handling of Trump’s immigration crackdown, but in her televised hearings, she faced scorching disapproval from Republicans as well.

In a minutes-long tirade, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) excoriated her for her “failure of leadership,” citing the deaths of Good and Pretti, for not reimbursing his state billions of dollars in badly needed disaster relief funds, and generally, for focusing DHS’ immigration enforcement efforts on sheer numbers of detentions versus paying attention to who is actually being detained.

“Quality matters, not quantity!” Tillis shouted at her during a Wednesday hearing. “What we’ve seen is a disaster under your leadership, Ms. Noem! A disaster! What we’ve seen is innocent people being detained that turn out are American citizens!”

Still, it was another Republican senator in that hearing, John Kennedy, who may have been the real cause for Noem’s firing.

The Louisiana senator pressed Noem on whether Trump signed off on her $220 million DHS ad campaign that was “effective in your name recognition,” but that “puts the president in a terribly awkward spot” given its price tag. She said the president did give the OK, which ended up infuriating Trump to the point that he called Kennedy directly to gripe about the senator’s questioning of Noem.

By Thursday morning, the president was reportedly calling Republicans on the Hill to see if they thought he should fire Noem.

“Good riddance.”

Noem’s expulsion comes as Congress fights over tying any new funding for DHS to major reforms at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Democrats have refused to budge on this demand, as Republicans insist the agency be funded while they debate ICE reforms separately.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday it’s great news that Noem is out, but it changes nothing about Democrats’ insistence on real changes at ICE.

“Good riddance,” he told reporters of Noem’s ouster. “But the problems with this agency transcend one person. The rot is deep.”

Noem will be a prime target of Democratic investigations after November if they win back the House, which they are well-positioned to do.

During Tuesday’s House oversight committee, Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) lashed at the DHS secretary for having “regularly ignored court orders and lied to judges,” citing 210 cases of her staff ignoring federal court orders in 2026 alone.

“You are the secretary of DHS ― for now,” Balint told Noem. “You think you’re immune from accountability. But I promise you this: One day, he is not going to be president anymore.”

Noem said nothing as the Vermont Democrat continued: “When that day comes, we will still be here ... and in hearings like this,” she said. “We are going to continue to prove your guilt.”

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