U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday that Markwayne Mullin will take over as secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, replacing Kristi Noem in a major leadership change tied to the administration’s immigration policies.
"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," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Noem will serve as "Special envoy for The Shield of the Americas," Trump said.
Noem, a former governor of South Dakota, became one of Trump's most high-profile Cabinet secretaries with social media posts that portrayed immigrants in harsh terms, highlighting cases of alleged criminal offenders and using vitriolic language. She faced criticism in January when she quickly labeled two U.S. citizens fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis as committing "domestic terrorism."
Videos that emerged after the deaths undercut the assertion by Noem and other Trump officials that the two deceased - Renee Good and Alex Pretti - were violent aggressors. The public backlash for deaths led the Trump administration to move to a more targeted approach to immigration enforcement in Minnesota after months of sweeps through U.S. cities that led to violent clashes with residents opposing the crackdown. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives moved to impeach Noem and at least two Republicans in Congress called for her to lose her job after the incidents.
