- The Shield of the Americas, a new security initiative in the Western Hemisphere from the U.S. is planned to be announced later this week, in Doral, Florida, Trump said.
- The president had been reportedly looking to replace Noem and had been asking his aides and congressional Republicans for names of potential replacements, as per a Wall Street Journal report.
- Noem’s choice to spend $200 million on an ad campaign that starred herself and encouraged undocumented immigrants to self-deport, had irritated the president for months, as per the report.
President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Thursday that Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, replacing Kristi Noem.
"Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026, " Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The outgoing Noem will become special envoy for The Shield of the Americas, a new security initiative in the Western Hemisphere from the U.S. that is planned to be announced later this week.
“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 said.
Planned Departure
The president had been reportedly looking to replace Noem and had been asking his aides and congressional Republicans for names of potential replacements.
Noem’s choice to spend $200 million on an ad campaign that starred herself and encouraged undocumented immigrants to self-deport, had irritated the president for months due to its self-promotional nature, a Wall Street Journal report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Trump’s associates had suggested other names that include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Congressman Jason Chaffetz and former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the report said.
Market Reaction
U.S. equities slumped on Wednesday. At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was down 1.3%, the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) fell 1.1%, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) slumped 2.1%.
Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘bearish’ territory at the time of writing.