Alex Pretti<\/a>, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents two weeks later.<\/p>\n ![\"Demonstrators](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/skynews-alex-pretti-renee-good_7183490.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Demonstrators in Minneapolis, Minnesota, protest after the fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n
At hearings in Congress this week, Ms Noem faced stinging criticism from fellow Republicans – particularly over a \u00a3165m ($220m) ad campaign she appeared in that encouraged people in the US illegally to leave voluntarily.<\/p>\n
She insisted that Mr Trump was aware of the campaign in advance, but he contradicted her in an interview, saying he did not sign off on it.<\/p>\n
She faced further criticism over the pace of emergency funding approved through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as over the White House’s response to disasters.<\/p>\n
\n The big mistake that got Kristi Noem sacked\n <\/p>\n
You know Kristi Noem – she\u2019s the one who shot her puppy because it wasn\u2019t responding to training.<\/p>\n
It was the controversial past before entering Government, and controversial it stayed.<\/p>\n
As Homeland Security Secretary, Noem was the face of Donald Trump\u2019s deportation crackdown. Infamously, she labelled US citizens killed by ICE agents in Minnesota as \u201cdomestic terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denigrating the dead wasn\u2019t a sackable offence for Trump, not on the flagship immigration policy.<\/p>\n
Her big mistake came during questions on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n
She was asked about an ad campaign on self-deportation in which she was front and centre \u2013 think \u2018Kristi Noem, the Video.\u2019<\/p>\n
The President didn\u2019t think much of the $220m cost and her claim that he sanctioned it.<\/p>\n
He denied it and duly dismissed her. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s fair to say she doesn\u2019t leave the post with a glowing job reference.<\/p>\n
A US official told NBC her departure was down to:
\n\u201cA culmination of her many unfortunate leadership failures including the fallout in Minnesota, the ad campaign, the allegations of infidelity, the mismanagement of her staff and her constant feuding with the heads of other agencies, including CBP and ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a career epitaph, it\u2019s: \u201cGood riddance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to NBC News, a White House official named these among her failures, as well as “allegations of infidelity”.<\/p>\n
Congressional hearings this week touched on these allegations when Ms Noem was asked if she had had “sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski” – Mr Trump’s former campaign manager.<\/p>\n
She dismissed the question as “tabloid garbage”.<\/p>\n
The White House official added: “Kristi’s drama sadly overshadowed and distracted from the Administration’s extremely popular immigration agenda, which will continue full force.”<\/p>\n
In his social media post, Mr Trump wrote: “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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland.'”<\/p>\n
![\"Kristi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/skynews-kristi-noem-homeland-security_7183505.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Kristi Noem appearing before a House Judiciary Committee at Congress on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n
![\"Markwayne](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/skynews-markwayne-mullin-donald-trump_7183504.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Markwayne Mullin meeting Donald Trump in Philadelphia in March last year. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n
Ms Noem addressed a Department of Homeland Security event moments after Mr Trump’s announcement but didn’t mention her change of role.<\/p>\n
She spoke for more than 20 minutes, but read prepared remarks reinforcing the president’s message from the State of the Union last month.<\/p>\n
Mr Mullin has to be confirmed in his post by the Senate, but he can serve as acting secretary as long as his nomination is formally pending.<\/p>\n
![\"Kristi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/skynews-kristi-noem-trump_7183552.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Kristi Noem testifying before Congress yesterday. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n
In a post on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president was grateful to Ms Noem “for helping usher in the most secure border in American history”.<\/p>\n
She added: “President Trump’s immigration agenda is keeping our borders secure and deporting illegal alien criminals from our country, and it will continue without interruption.”<\/p>\n
Hakeem Jeffries, who leads the rival Democratic party in the House of Representatives, branded Ms Noem a “deeply unqualified, unhinged, out-of-control, pathological liar who repeatedly abused her power”.<\/p>\n
He continued: “She was a complete and total disaster. We made clear weeks ago that Kristi Noem must be fired or she would face impeachment. Her well-deserved termination is long overdue, consistent with what we have demanded.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kristi Noem has been sacked as homeland security secretary after what a source in the Trump administration said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-459663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Kristi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/skynews-kristi-noem-white-house_7183519.jpg\")
<\/p>\n