{"id":505788,"date":"2026-03-05T19:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/505788\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T19:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:43:09","slug":"trump-says-kristi-noem-is-stepping-down-as-homeland-security-secretary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/505788\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says Kristi Noem is stepping down as homeland security secretary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is stepping down at the end of the month, President Donald Trump said Thursday, saying that he would tap Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to replace her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.<\/p>\n

He added that Noem, who he said \u201chas served us well,\u201d will take over a new role called \u201cEnvoy for The Shield of the Americas.\u201d The president described that position as one that will lead \u201cour new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by NBC News about Trump\u2019s announcement, Mullin said, \u201cI found out just before you guys did,\u201d adding that he and Trump would talk more later Thursday.<\/p>\n

Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, served for a decade in the House before he won a 2023 special election to the Senate.<\/p>\n

Trump spoke to Noem this afternoon about the job switch, according to two people familiar with the conversation. The secretary is traveling outside of Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

Noem has been at the forefront of Trump\u2019s signature policy agendas: the deportation of immigrants, the restriction of immigration and the clamping down of the U.S.-Mexico border. Her ouster marks the first time a Cabinet secretary will step down in Trump\u2019s second term. Last year, Mike Waltz left his Cabinet-level post <\/a>as national security adviser after Trump nominated him to become ambassador to the United Nations.<\/p>\n

Noem’s place in the administration became increasingly<\/a> unstable following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents during<\/a> immigration operations in Minneapolis, her fraying relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard<\/a>, the only branch of the military under her command, and her comments this week before lawmakers that rankled Trump. <\/p>\n

In the congressional hearings Tuesday and Wednesday, lawmakers questioned Noem on the $200 million ad campaign<\/a> she oversaw that urged anyone in the U.S. illegally to deport voluntarily. The ad campaign, which was conducted mostly in English, featured Noem. According to AdImpact, the Department of Homeland Security has spent almost $80 million to air these ads since the start of 2025, not including the cost of production.<\/p>\n

Noem on Tuesday told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the president approved the multimillion-dollar ad campaign, a claim that the White House denied.<\/p>\n

\u201cPOTUS did not sign off on a $220 MILLION dollar ad campaign. Absolutely not,\u201d a White House official told NBC News on Thursday.<\/p>\n

At Senate and House hearings this week, Noem also faced questions from lawmakers over the administration\u2019s actions in Minneapolis. The deployment of thousands of federal troops to conduct immigration enforcement activities, using at times brutal tactics, has led to intense bipartisan criticism of Noem\u2019s leadership of DHS.<\/p>\n

Noem declined to apologize for calling Renee Good<\/a> and Alex Pretti<\/a>, two Americans who have been killed by federal agents, \u201cdomestic terrorists<\/a>,\u201d though she conceded that investigations into the two deaths are ongoing.<\/p>\n

Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski in January called for Noem to step down<\/a>, with Tillis telling reporters he couldn\u2019t \u201cthink of any point of pride over the last year\u201d of her tenure.<\/p>\n

Before serving in the Trump administration, Noem was the governor of South Dakota.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Alexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jonathan Allen is a senior national politics reporter for NBC News. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Julie\u00a0Tsirkin is a\u00a0correspondent covering Capitol Hill and the White House.<\/p>\n

Lizzie Jensen, Frank Thorp V, Monica Alba, Julia Ainsley and Melanie Zanona contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is stepping down at the end of the month, President Donald Trump said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-505788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}