By Michelle L. Price
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he’s replacing his Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and will nominate in her place Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
Trump made the announcement on social media on Thursday, two days after Noem faced a grilling on Capitol Hill from GOP members as well as Democrats.
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Trump says he’ll make Noem a “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative that he said would focus on the Western Hemisphere.
Noem is the first Cabinet secretary to leave during Trump’s second term. Noem’s departure caps a tenure overseeing immigration enforcement tactics that have been met with protests and lawsuits.
Frustration with Noem’s handling of Trump’s immigration agenda — particularly her leadership following the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis — as well as criticism of her disaster response, intensified scrutiny of her leadership. She faced criticism from Democrats and some Republicans during congressional hearings this week over those issues and others.
Aside from immigration, Noem also faced criticism — including from Republicans — over the pace of emergency funding approved through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and for the Trump administration’s response to disasters.
Mullin would need to be confirmed by the Senate, but under a federal law governing executive branch vacancies, he would be allowed to serve as an acting Homeland Security secretary as long as his nomination is formally pending.
Police1 staff contributed to this report.
