White House officials have grown frustrated with Kristi Noem’s leadership of the Department of Homeland Security, leading to calls for a new secretary to more aggressively support key parts of the president’s deportation agenda, two sources familiar with the situation told MS NOW.
President Trump is considering removing Noem as secretary as early as January, according to a White House official, a current federal official and two former Homeland Security officials.
Noem is on “very thin ice,” a White House official told MS NOW, adding she will likely be replaced early next year. The White House official added that Stephen Miller, President Trump’s deputy chief of staff, is leading the charge to remove Noem.
Frustrations from Miller and other senior White House officials are two-fold. Noem isn’t moving fast enough to build out more detention centers with the money approved in Trump’s big summer spending bill, the White House official and a federal official said. The bill directed $170 billion toward immigration enforcement, with some $75 billion going to ICE alone. That massive cash infusion included $45 billion specifically for detention facilities.
Multiple governors have also called Trump personally and voiced frustration with Noem’s handling of FEMA and disaster relief funds, the White House official told MS NOW.
The White House official and other sources who spoke to MS NOW noted that the decision to oust Noem is not finalized.
Outgoing Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is considered a top contender to replace Noem, according to the White House official and two other sources familiar with the situation. During a recent trip to D.C., Youngkin met with DHS and Customs and Border Protection officials, according to two former DHS officials from the Trump and Biden administrations.
Todd Lyons, acting ICE director, is also on the list of possible replacements for Noem, the White House official said.
In a statement to MS NOW, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson called this story “total Fake News” and said the reporting about Miller was “false.” “Secretary Noem is doing a great job implementing the president’s agenda and making America safe again,” Jackson said. “MS NOW continues to beclown themselves by inventing narratives that simply are not true.”
A spokesperson for Youngkin did not respond. DHS deferred a request for comment to the White House.
CNN first reported in late November that Noem could be replaced in January and that Youngkin could soon join the administration.
Laura Barrón-López covers the White House for MS NOW.
Jake Traylor
Jake Traylor is a White House correspondent for MS NOW.
Marc Santia is an investigative correspondent for MS NOW.
Jacqueline Alemany is co-anchor of "The Weekend" and a Washington correspondent for MS NOW.
Ali Vitali is MS NOW's senior congressional correspondent and the host of "Way Too Early." She is the author of "Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet."