Trump replaces Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security
President Donald Trump replaced Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after she was hounded by lawmakers over a $220 million ad campaign.
MIAMI — Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem will make her debut as special presidential envoy for the Shield of the Americas. President Donald Trump appointed her to the new role after demoting her last week.
Noem will serve as the administration’s liaison to a coalition of like-minded Latin American countries that the Trump administration says it created to combat drug trafficking and solidify U.S. primacy in the Western Hemisphere.
President Trump formally launched the coalition, which includes countries such as El Salvador and Panama, on March 7 at an invitation-only summit at his Doral Golf Club. Leaders from participating countries, including El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, are attending a daylong rally led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a former Florida senator and prominent Cuban-American who is fluent in Spanish.
As early aides like Noem declined in stature, Rubio quickly rose to power within the second Trump administration, serving in the dual roles of Trump’s national security adviser and chief diplomat.
President Trump announced in a social media post on March 5 that he would nominate Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Last May, he fired his first national security adviser, Michael Walz (currently the U.N. ambassador), and replaced him with Rubio. The temporary arrangements associated with a White House office have effectively become permanent. Mr. Rubio is widely known as the architect of President Trump’s strategy for engagement with the Western Hemisphere and played a leading role in the ouster and arrest of the Venezuelan president.
Noem is in the position of a special envoy, similar to an ambassador.
The role of special envoy is nominally placed in the role of the former Cabinet secretary on the shield of the Americas, but President Trump indicated at the time of the group’s launch that it would operate under Rubio’s supervision.
“I want to thank Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his leadership in putting this really important thing together. He’s been great,” President Trump said in his March 7 speech.
Noem sat in the front row at an event between Ohio state Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Colombian-born Republican, and Treasury Secretary Howard Lutnick. She then did not respond to repeated questions from reporters about what her role would be and how long she intended to serve in it.
President Trump delivered remarks at the Commencement Summit before departing from Florida to attend the dignified transfer of remains of U.S. soldiers killed in combat with Iran.
In his speech, he told leaders that the “epicenter” of cartel violence was Mexico and that President Claudia Sheinbaum was not present. Mexico recently conducted a military operation that killed notorious drug boss Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” temporarily plunging the country into instability.
President Trump said of the cartels on March 7: “We have to root them out. We have to crush them. Because the gang leaders are taking over the country. The cartels are running Mexico. We can’t do that. It’s too close to us. To get to you.”
By naming Noem his special envoy for security initiatives, President Trump has given the embattled former congressman, who left his job as governor of North Dakota to join his administration, a soft landing.
She said in an interview with NBC that Noem, who has come under fire for her spending at DHS and her handling of a clash between protesters and federal agents in Minnesota that left two Americans dead, was a fine person who did a good job.
But he said he was surprised to learn that she had spent $220 million on an ad campaign encouraging immigrants to voluntarily deport, in which she featured prominently. The spending came under scrutiny from Republican Sen. John Kennedy during Noem’s testimony before a congressional committee.
President Trump said, “I wasn’t excited about it. I spent less money than that to become president. I didn’t know about it.”
In a March 5 social media post, Noem expressed gratitude to Trump for appointing him a special envoy.
