US President Donald Trump on Thursday fired Kristi Noem from her position as Secretary of Homeland Security, replacing her with Markwayne Mullin, a senator from Oklahoma.
Mr Trump's decision to sack Ms Noem makes her only the second member of his cabinet to be removed since he returned to office last year. In May, then-national security adviser Mike Waltz was sent to the UN and replaced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio after a messaging scandal.
As Homeland Security Secretary, Ms Noem was a lightning rod for controversy, leading the agency charged with enforcing immigration policy. She was accused of racism and of encouraging the department to disregard due process as masked immigration agents arrested suspected undocumented migrants, often using violent tactics.
In January, after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a demonstrator, Alex Pretti, Ms Noem falsely claimed the victim, who was a US citizen, had brandished a weapon and threatened agents. She also called Mr Pretti a domestic terrorist.
In an earlier killing of an American at the hands of masked agents, Ms Noem without evidence said the victim Renee Good had committed domestic terrorism. She faced significant backlash in both instances.
Democratic and Republican members of US Congress recently grilled Ms Noem and accused her of questionably using DHS resources.
She was also asked about allegations that she had an affair with Trump loyalist and aid Corey Lewandowski, and whether or not she used DHS resources to cover it up.
On Friday, before her termination, US outlets reported that her recent congressional testimony angered Mr Trump, who considered the accusations against Ms Noem to be a distraction.
There was no hint of such frustration in his announcement of her departure.
“The current Secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results, especially on the border,” he said, adding that she would now be assume the role of special envoy for a new “security initiative in the Western Hemisphere".
On X, Ms Noem thanked Mr Trump for the new role and promoted her “historic accomplishments” at the DHS.
While Mr Trump was on the campaign trail in 2024, Ms Noem, then the governor of South Dakota, was widely considered a possible vice presidential pick.
But she soon fell out of favour after controversy erupted when she admitted to shooting her dog. Ms Noem wrote briefly about the animal in her second autobiography, No Going Back.
A more recent issue that drew the ire of Democrats and Republicans during her congressional hearing involved Ms Noem’s push to have the DHS buy what some have described as a luxury jet – a Boeing 737 Max 8, which had a queen-sized bed, flat-screen TVs and a bar.
