Kristi Noem Out as Key Deportation Leader of Trump Administration
- Dave Price
- Mar 6
- 3 min read
Regardless of whether you believe that she was fired or transferred to another position, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is leaving her job, a change announced by President Donald Trump on social media Thursday.
Although, President Trump announced the change after Noem’s performance this week at two congressional hearings where she faced questions about a $220 million ad campaign (funded by taxpayers) that prominently featured her (that she claimed President Trump pre-approved), a $70 million luxury jet (funded by taxpayers) that she claimed would be used to deport undocumented immigrants, and the nature of her relationship with her top aide, Corey Lewandowski.
President Trump announced that he was removing Noem, naming her replacement, and creating a position for her elsewhere:
“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.
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. I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland.’”
Noem had become the administration’s most prominent face, aside from President Trump himself, when it came to deporting people suspected of living in the country illegally. That also meant that she became a key target for critics after ICE shot and killed two protesters in Minneapolis, numerous people reported excessive force by ICE agents, and agents detained American citizens.
Trump’s Strength on Immigration
Candidate Trump’s emphasis on immigration and border security may have been some of his greatest assets with voters in the 2024 election.
However, polls show that most Americans do not support his efforts on immigration during his first year since returning to the White House.
RealClearPolitics provides an average of national polls. Not one poll of the 11 listed shows a majority of voters approving Trump’s immigration policies.
Oklahoma Republican Governor Wants Immigration Policy on State Level
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, a Republican, knows that President Trump received nearly two out of every three votes in his state in 2024. He also knows that agriculture is important in Oklahoma. And he would like to have governors like himself to have more say in immigration policy.
Stitt does not want to see the administration deport every person without permanent legal status. What would that mean to his state if that happened? “It’d be devastating,” Stitt told National Public Radio.
“I mean, I went down, I was in a very rural community…Trump voters. And I asked them these questions,” Stitt continued. “I said, ‘What are you guys thinking about on this immigration issue? Said, ‘Governor, Trump won. He won on the issue of border security. We absolutely need to vet people coming into our country. We absolutely need to get criminals out.’” Stitt said of the conversations.
But he added that those rural residents then also confessed the labor reality for their operations. “…they also whispered to me, and they said, ‘I run a construction company. I own a company that does this. I'm a farmer. And I have some illegals that work for me, and they're like family. They've been here for 15 years. They go to church with us. Their kids go to school. They're great people. They're trying to get workforce permits, and we can't figure it out,’” Stitt said.
Stitt concluded his recollection of the conversations. “And that's why they're saying, ‘Governor, you need as the governor to be able to issue these workforce permits, so we can act…so they can pay taxes. They can be here legally, and they can work.’”
The Oklahoma governor, who is also Chair of the National Governors Association, then laid out what he would like to see if states could assist in immigration policy. “I'm not saying give them a citizenship. But let's figure this out, because it would devastate the different industries across the across the country. And you can talk to the Wisconsin dairy farmers or the Vermont dairy farmers or the fisheries in Louisiana,” he said.
The reality, Stitt said, was that states depend on immigrant labor. “We all need labor at some level, and workforce is very important for states and for our economy, and we need to figure this out,” Stitt concluded.
RELATED: This dairy industry leader had his own ideas that he shared with American Farmland Owner about immigration reform, especially when it involves the need for year-round labor for agriculture.
