WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — President Trump announced Thursday on social media that he is replacing his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
Watch in player above: DHS Secretary Noem questioned during Mar. 3 Senate hearing
The announcement comes two days after Noem faced a grilling on Capitol Hill from GOP members as well as Democrats.
In a post on Truth Social Thursday, the president said, in part:
“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 went on to say that Noem “has served us well” and applauded her work at the U.S.-Mexico border, adding that she will be moving to a role as the “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida.”
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 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.
In particular, the DHS secretary was questioned over the decision to run a $220 million ad campaign that heavily featured her.
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.
This is a developing story; The Associated Press contributed to this report.
