Kristi Noem is considered an ultra-right Trump supporter. The Secretary of Homeland Security carries out her office with unyielding severity. But now her relationship with the president is said to have cracked.
January 28, 2026, 05:25January 28, 2026, 05:25
When Kristi Noem enters a room, the temperature feels like it drops several degrees. Ice-cold and devoid of empathy is how the US Secretary of Homeland Security likes to present herself; she has so far been celebrated in President Donald Trump’s camp for her merciless nature. However, due to the fatal shooting of nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by Noem’s emergency services, the 54-year-old has now found herself caught in the crossfire.
Kristi Noem is under pressure.Image: keystone
A few hours after Pretti was killed, Noem stood behind the border guards involved and accused the previously blameless nurse of “domestic terrorism.” The 37-year-old brandished a nine-millimeter pistol and “attacked” the emergency services with it, the minister claimed. Video footage that circulated shortly afterwards revealed that this was a blatant lie.
Nevertheless, Trump again rejected calls from the Democratic Party to expel Noem on Tuesday. “I think she’s doing a very good job,” said the president. At the same time, Trump emphasized that he wanted an “honest investigation” into the Pretti case and that he wanted to personally oversee it.
Democrats mock Noem as “ICE Barbie”
The fact that Trump sent his border protection officer Tom Homan to Minneapolis is seen in Washington as a sign of disturbed trust between the president and Noem. Trump announced that he would be “tough but fair” and would report to him “directly”.
Even in the presidential camp, many are shocked by the images of Pretti’s death, more so than by the shooting of unarmed driver Renee Good on January 7th. In both cases, emergency personnel who report directly to Noem’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are held responsible – in the Pretti case, an employee of the Border Patrol, in the Good case, a representative of the ICE immigration agency, which has been making a name for itself for months with a real hunt for migrants.
The Democrats in the US House of Representatives vilify Noem as “ICE Barbie” and want to increase the pressure if Trump does not “fire her immediately”. More than 140 lawmakers have signed a resolution calling for the impeachment of the Secretary of Homeland Security. However, the motion for “impeachment” has no chance. This would require a simple majority in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, and even a two-thirds majority in the Senate.
Noem’s publications resemble a gallery of horror
Noem was already faced with calls for his resignation in July. The minister was held responsible for the devastating floods in Texas that left at least 135 dead. Noem had previously announced massive cuts to the disaster management agency Fema, which she reports to.
Trump stuck to it then too, because Noem is the figurehead for his tough immigration policy. At the end of March, for example, Noem visited the notorious CECOT maximum security prison in El Salvador, to which the Trump administration had deported more than 250 Venezuelans, and was photographed in front of half-naked, tattooed prisoners in cage-like cells. “President Trump and I have a clear message to criminal, illegal immigrants: Leave now,” Noem announced. “If you don’t leave, we will track you down, arrest you, and you could end up in this Salvadoran prison.”
Noem’s ministry’s online publications resemble a gallery of horror. Every deportation is celebrated with images that are as repulsive as possible, and those affected are denigrated as “murderers, predators, fraudsters and drug smugglers”. The DHS recently celebrated that more than 675,000 people were deported last year, and around 2.2 million “illegal aliens” left the USA voluntarily.
Early supporter of Trump’s movement
Noem owes her position in Trump’s cabinet to her early support for his MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement. Raised on a ranch in South Dakota, she represented the northern state in the US House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019 before being elected governor.
Trump is said to have even considered the mother of three as a possible vice president instead of JD Vance in 2024. But Noem catapulted himself out of the game. In a memoir, she wrote bluntly that she shot her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, because he was “untrainable.” Such cruelty was not well received even in the MAGA camp. (t-online/con/dpa)