Trump fires DHS’ Noem following tense hearings with NC’s Tillis, Ross over Helene
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Trump fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem after intense criticism and hearings.
- Noem's $100K approval rule delayed reimbursements for Helene recovery.
- Sen. Markwayne Mullin tapped to lead DHS; expected to focus on aid, border.
On Tuesday, Sen. Thom Tillis called for her resignation.
On Wednesday, Rep. Deborah Ross asked for her impeachment.
By Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has lost her job.
Noem, 54, the former governor of South Dakota, became the country’s eighth Department of Homeland Security secretary on Jan. 25, 2025. The position was created under the Bush administration following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Now, Trump says, Noem will serve as “special envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” a “new security initiative in the Western Hemisphere.” He plans to announce more on that Saturday.
Questioning Noem
Fifty-nine senators voted to confirm Trump’s nomination of Noem to serve as secretary of Homeland Security, including Tillis, a Republican from Huntersville, and Sen. Ted Budd, a Republican from Davie County.
But Noem faced an onslaught of criticism for her role overseeing immigration enforcement and federal emergency response since taking office. Disapproval surrounding her leadership escalated in recent weeks following the fatal shootings, by immigration agents, of U.S. citizens Renée Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis.
This led to Congress allowing a partial government shutdown, affecting only DHS funding, since Jan. 31, while Republicans and Democrats wrestle on policy to rein in enforcement.
Facing Congress
This week, Noem sat for back-to-back hearings before the Senate and House judiciary committees, where she faced testy exchanges from both Democrats and Republicans. That included Tillis and Ross, a Democrat from Raleigh.
Both lawmakers took issue with Noem for failing to address Tillis’ questions, sent to her office last month, regarding Operation Charlotte’s Web, an immigration enforcement effort in Charlotte, in which legal U.S. residents were reportedly detained.
They also joined Budd in his public frustration that Noem created a policy in which she needed to personally approve any funding over $100,000 before it left her department. That included money appropriated by Congress for Helene recovery. And that created a backlog of reimbursements to communities in Western North Carolina who do not have the tax revenues to front the kind of recovery response the 2024 storm caused across the Southeast.
It is rare for Budd to fall out of step with Trump, but to put pressure on Noem and help Western North Carolina, he announced, in September, he would block nominations to her department until she released the funds Congress allotted to the state for recovery efforts.
In a 10-minute speech Tuesday that went viral, Tillis told Noem he believed she was “incapable” of competent FEMA leadership.
“We’re an exceptional nation,” Tillis said, “and one of the reasons we’re exceptional is we expect exceptional leadership, and you’ve demonstrated anything but that in the time that I’ve seen you responding to the emergency in North Carolina and across the Southeast and acknowledging mistakes are made and speaking too soon for the expedient of social media or whatever it is.”
Funding Helene relief
Within 24 hours of Tillis calling out Noem, $70 million was released to North Carolina.
Noem has made a pattern of releasing funding to North Carolina immediately after lawmakers like Tillis, Budd or Gov. Josh Stein publicly call out Noem, or travel to meet with the president to say that allotted money isn’t making its way back to the state because of her policies.
Ross called out Noem for that pattern Wednesday in her own speech.
“You cannot find the time until my senator berates you in public to approve this money,” Ross said. “Individual members of Congress should not have to come to you.”
But on social media, Ross faced backlash for her comments, from Rep. Mark Harris, a Republican from Charlotte.
“(Ross) is throwing a fit over FEMA, but she herself voted AGAINST funding FEMA,” Harris wrote on social media. “Don’t play the victim when you’re the one victimizing Americans.”
It is rare for members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation to take personal swipes at one another publicly, though Harris has been doing so on social media in recent weeks.
What isn’t rare is for a U.S. Senate candidate to use a moment like this against an opponent, and former Gov. Roy Cooper took the opportunity. The Democrat is running to succeed Tillis, who is retiring, against Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman, who Trump named to review FEMA’s response efforts in North Carolina.
“Michael Whatley and Kristi Noem failed western North Carolina,” Cooper wrote on social media. “They caused FEMA to break its promise to the people of our state and that needs to change.”
In past interviews, Whatley, who Trump said was overseeing North Carolina’s recovery efforts, praised the efforts of Noem, “who is doing a great job as our secretary,” he told The Talk Station.
Noem out, Mullin in
Thursday morning, Punchbowl News reported that Trump was polling members of Congress about whether he should keep Noem.
Just after 1:30 p.m., she was ousted.
“The current Secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!)..,” Trump posted on his social media network, Truth Social, along with her new position. “I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland.’”
In the same post, he announced Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, will take over Noem’s position effective March 31.
Mullin, a member of the Cherokee Nation, is the only Native American serving in the Senate and was instrumental in helping Tillis ensure the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina was federally recognized, despite objections from North Carolina’s Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
The DHS secretary position requires Senate confirmation, and both Tillis and Budd praised Mullin’s nomination.
“Congrats to my colleague & friend (Mullin) on his appointment to lead (DHS),” Budd wrote on social media. “Given the important work the agency does to keep America safe and it’s critical role in disaster recovery, I hope my colleagues vote to confirm him and move to reopen DHS swiftly.”
Budd did not mention Noem in his statement, though it would be out of character for him to celebrate a colleague’s job loss. Noem served with Budd in the U.S. House.
Tillis also posted on social media, and though he didn’t mention Noem by name, he took a swipe at her.
“Senator Markwayne Mullin is a great guy and a great choice to lead DHS, restore competence, and refocus efforts on quickly distributing disaster aid, keeping the border secure, and targeting violent illegal immigrants for deportation,” Tillis wrote. “Another big positive: he likes dogs.”
On Tuesday, Tillis chastised Noem publicly for writing in a book that she shot a 14-month-old hunting dog. Tillis, who is a known dog-lover, said it showed that she lacked leadership skills because she didn’t invest the time to train it.
Ross, however, used the moment to reflect on Noem’s leadership, calling her “a disaster for North Carolina” in a news release.
“Our state and our country are better off with her gone,” Ross wrote. “Noem personally withheld disaster aid from communities still struggling to rebuild more than a year after Hurricane Helene. Families, small business, and local governments across Western North Carolina have been begging for her help while she prioritizes photo-ops and authorizes millions of dollars for private jets.”
Ross also wrote that Noem’s policies “terrorized” the people of Charlotte and Raleigh as “federal immigration agents detained and killed American citizens, separated children and families, and spread fear in our communities.”
“Noem had to go,” Ross said. “While I’m relieved to see her fired, I will continue demanding that our next DHS Secretary follow the law, uphold the constitution, and deliver desperately needed aid to Western North Carolina.”
Stein also put out a statement on the impact changes at DHS would have on the state.
“FEMA needs to act with greater urgency approving and distributing relief funds to the people and communities of western NC as we continue to rebuild after Hurricane Helene,” Stein wrote. “I look forward to working with Senator Mullin, the newly tapped Secretary of DHS, and his team at FEMA to deliver for western NC.”