Noem Thanks Trump for New 'Shield of the Americas' Role

Kristi Noem's turbulent run atop the Department of Homeland Security is ending with a reassignment and a replacement drawn from the Senate. President Trump announced Thursday that Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma will take over as DHS secretary, calling him "highly respected," while saying Noem will shift to a new post as "Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas," part of a Western Hemisphere security push the White House says it will roll out Saturday. The change takes effect March 31.

• Months of speculation. The firing follows months of speculation about Noem's future as public support for Trump's aggressive deportation drive has eroded and even some Republicans questioned her leadership.

• Trump "not a happy camper." The president was unhappy with Noem about DHS's heavily criticized surge in Minnesota, where two US citizens were fatally shot by officers, and about Noem's Senate testimony on Tuesday defending a $200 million ad campaign that prominently featured her, sources tell the Washington Post. Noem told senators Trump had approved the campaign. GOP Sen. John Kennedy said Trump was "not a happy camper" when he spoke to him later that day. "The president's recollection and her recollection are distinctly different," he said.
• Her new role. The White House says the Shield of the Americas is a regional policy initiative, guided by Trump's "Donroe Doctrine," to ensure security for the Western Hemisphere, the Hill reports. Noem's role, like her role at Homeland Security, will include dealing with issues like illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Noem didn't mention her ouster during an appearance at an event in Nashville on Thursday, but she later thanked Trump in a post on X. "In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise, I forged over the last 13 months as Secretary of Homeland Security," she wrote.

• Mullin. In a post on X, Mullin, whose appointment needs to be confirmed by the Senate, said, "I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the Senate and carrying out President Trump's mission alongside the department's many capable agencies and the thousands of patriots who keep us safe every day." Mullin "has been a fighter for Oklahoma and will fight to keep our nation secure," Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement, per the Oklahoma Voice. "There isn't a better choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security." He said he would appoint a "strong, small government conservative voice" to replace Mullin.
• Democrats welcome the news. Democrats largely cheered her departure, the Post reports. Independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, called Mullin "an upgrade, absolutely," adding that "pretty much anybody is." Sen. Cory Booker said Noem should still be "held to account for the corruption that she has shown with the contracting" and for what he described as violations of Americans' constitutional rights. The Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights said her departure is "long overdue," the AP reports. "For immigrant communities across the country, her leadership represented a dangerous escalation of policies that treated families and workers as targets rather than as human beings," the advocacy group said, adding that her replacement must ensure agencies like ICE treat immigrants with "basic human respect."