Editorial: Yes, Noem is out at DHS, but is Trump's pick to replace her any better?

The Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Mar 10, 2026

Published in Op Eds

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President Donald Trump’s cabinet is filled with grifters, fools, and thugs. Kristi Noem somehow managed to be all three.

While she will not be missed as head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, her proposed replacement, U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, hardly seems any better.

The Senate, which must confirm the next secretary, should ensure whoever leads the department — which oversees everything from immigration enforcement to disaster relief — has the experience and temperament needed to help keep Americans safe.

Noem was once considered a front-runner to serve as Trump’s second vice president. Instead, the then-governor of South Dakota became the face of the president’s mass deportation agenda. Under her leadership, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents were deployed to strike fear and spread chaos in communities across America.

The woman who once wrote she was willing to do things that were “difficult, messy and ugly” if they needed to be done, instead gratuitously brought those qualifiers to immigration enforcement, allowing heavily armed, masked, and unaccountable federal agents to run roughshod over civil liberties and constitutional rights.

ICE and CBP personnel have been filmed routinely using excessive force. Agents have attacked pregnant women, body slammed a 79-year-old man, left a blind man alone in the cold to die, smashed car windows without warning, rammed vehicles, deployed tear gas near an elementary school, and detained people without cause.

According to a comprehensive investigation by the Trace, ICE was involved in at least 43 incidents in which guns were drawn in questionable circumstances. Roughly a dozen people have been injured, and six more were killed. Among them were three U.S. citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, and Ruben Ray Martinez in Texas — in cases where claims of self-defense by the government seem to be contradicted by video evidence.

Brutality under Noem’s DHS was not confined to the streets. More than 30 people died in immigrant detention facilities last year, the highest number in decades. Meanwhile, detainees, who include hundreds of children, describe brutal and inhumane conditions, even as the government ramps up more detention facilities throughout the country.

Noem exercised unprecedented control over Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) spending, which led to disaster recovery aid being delayed. She also funneled millions of dollars in taxpayer money to handpicked firms, including one run by the husband of her chief spokesperson.

Yet, it was none of her multiple transgressions against ethics, the law, or common decency that did Noem in. Her performance for an audience of one finally hit the wrong notes during her testimony at a recent Senate hearing.

Noem reacted angrily to a question about her alleged affair with longtime Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski. While she referred to the issue as tabloid trash, she also pointedly failed to deny it under oath. But it was the claim that Trump approved a $220 million ad campaign starring Noem that left her “dead as fried chicken,” according to U.S. Sen. John Kennedy. The Louisiana Republican, who pressed Noem on the matter, told Fox News that the president was “mad as a mamma wasp.”

Whatever the reason, cornpone or no, Noem’s departure is a good thing, as it allows senators to demand policy changes and guardrails regarding immigration enforcement. They also need to make clear that the president’s choice is not a capable replacement.

Mullin is a former mixed martial artist turned Trump sycophant. The first-term senator from Oklahoma is a hard-liner who has backed the president’s inhumane immigration agenda and defended the killings of Good and Pretti in Minneapolis. He once challenged the Teamsters president to a fight during a hearing.

He also has trouble keeping his story straight. Questioned by reporters last week, he said the U.S. was at war in Iran, and then walked it back almost immediately. Speaking on Fox News, Mullin also claimed the smell of war is “something that you’ll never forget.” Quite the claim for someone who has never served in the military, let alone seen combat.

Perhaps U.S. Sen. John Fetterman can share what he thinks makes Mullin qualified, since Pennsylvania’s senior senator has said he is ready to vote to confirm before any hearings take place.

Noem’s replacement underscores Trump’s incompetence and fecklessness as a leader. He treats cabinet appointments like he’s still hosting The Apprentice. The U.S. Senate needs to start taking homeland security seriously.

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