President Donald Trump announced Thursday that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will no longer be in charge of the department as of March 31.
"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,'" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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Noem faced lawmakers on Tuesday and Wednesday who grilled her over the department's handling of immigration enforcement. While it was expected she'd face pointed questioning from Democrats, several Republicans provided criticism during congressional hearings.
Lawmakers expressed concern over her handling of two shootings in Minnesota in January that resulted in the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Among the lawmakers critical of Noem, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called for her resignation.
"I want to submit this letter from the Office of Inspector General that cites ten different instances under Ms. Noem's leadership where they've been misled and not allowed to pursue investigations that they think are critically important," Tillis said. "Does anybody have any idea how bad it has to be for the OIG in this agency to come out and do this publicly? That is stonewalling. That's a failure of leadership, and that is why I've called for your resignation."
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Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, criticized Noem for spending $220 million on an ad campaign featuring herself.
"They were effective in your name recognition, I mean, I personally just, I mean, to me it puts the president in a terribly awkward spot," Kennedy said.
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin will be nominated to replace Noem, Trump said.
