Markwayne Mullin is officially the new sheriff in town at the Department of Homeland Security, after controversial former South Dakota governor Kristi Noem was fired by Trump following her 13-month, heavy-handed tenure at the agency.

Mullin, a first-term senator and former mixed martial arts fighter, is certainly not more progressive than Noem given his anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ+ stances.

Noem’s time as the boss of the DHS was followed by controversy, particularly over her deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to cities across the United States as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation goals.

Throughout the ICE raids, the Trump administration asserted they were removing undocumented migrants from the US. However, many people have alleged been wrongfully arrested, detained and deported by ICE despite being citizens, having correct visas or valid asylum claims.

Notably, this included the case of gay makeup artist Andry José Hernández Romero, who entered the US legally in 2024 to seek asylum from Venezuela as he was fleeing anti-LGBTQ+ violence, but was deported by ICE to the dangerous, supermax CECOT prison in El Salvador because the agency believed, incorrectly, he had links to gangs.

The presence of ICE in many cities was met with outcry and protest by local residents, leading to violent confrontations between agents and members of the public, arrests and even two deaths.

In January, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti and Renee Good, who were both 37 at the time of their deaths, were fatally shot by ICE agents in Minneapolis.

Throughout her political career, Noem has had several controversial moments and been heavily criticised for inflammatory – and untrue – comments she made.

“Domestic terrorists”

Perhaps most controversially were Noem’s comments about Pretti and Good, in which she called them “domestic terrorists”.

This week, Noem was offered the chance to apologise for her remarks but refused.

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Democrat Jamie Raskin: “Only a few hours after they were gunned down by your agents, you called Renee a domestic terrorist

“You said Alex committed an act of domestic terrorism.

“I want to give a chance before the entire country to correct your false and defamatory claim.

“Based on what you know today, madam secretary, were Renee Good and Alex Pretti domestic terrorists?”

Noem said the incidents were “an absolute tragedy”, to which Raskin interjected and repeated his question.

“I offer my condolences to their families because I know that their lives will never be the same,” she continued, adding both deaths are currently subject to investigation.

“But you didn’t wait for the investigation did you?” Raskin replied.

“I offer my condolences to those families,” Noem repeated. “My heart is with them.”

“Forced” gender surgeries

Noem is well-known for her anti-LGBTQ+ views, given that prior to her role as Homeland Security secretary she signed anti-trans legislation into law as the governor of South Dakota.

In October 2024, Noem joined a group of nine other governors in filing an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in the case of U.S. v. Skrmetti, and in announcing this made the unsubstantiated claim that the US government – then the Biden administration – was forcibly transitioning children.

Noem claimed the federal government was “forcing states to perform harmful, irreversible, and unscientific medical procedures on children” in a statement.

In response, the ACLU called out Noem for pushing such an erroneous lie.

“Gov. Noem’s quote is misleading — no one is forcing the state to provide hormone therapy to children,” Samantha Chapman, ACLU of South Dakota advocacy manager, said at the time.

“Rather, the state is forcing medical providers to ignore standards of care and their medical judgement for treating gender dysphoria in youth patients.

“The law robs trans youth from medically appropriate and necessary care and strips parents of their parental rights to seek hormone therapy for their children in South Dakota.

“There are many victims here, but the state government of South Dakota is not one.”

Chapman added: “Trans youth and their families deserve to live in a state that promises them a bright future, not one with a governor who punches down on the constituents she disfavors.”

Meeting Kim Jong Un and killing her dog

Noem also faced controversy for openly talking about killing her dog in her memoir, No Going Back, as well as saying she met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

In the book, Noem bizarrely wrote about how she killed her 14-month-old, “untrainable” puppy in a “gravel pit” and meeting the notorious dictator, who has a deeply contentious relationship with Western leaders.

The passage read, as per Queerty: “I remember when I met with North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants…”

Face The Nation host Margaret Brennan asked her directly if she met with him, to which Noem responded: “I’ve met with many, many world leaders. 

“I’ve travelled around the world. I talk extensively in this book about my time serving in Congress, my time as governor, before governor. Some of the travels I’ve had. I’m not going to talk about my specific meetings with world leaders.”

On the same day, her publisher Center Street said they were withdrawing the passage.

Noem’s claim was also dismissed by experts as “dubious” and not “conceivable”.

“I don’t see any conceivable way that a single junior member of Congress without explicit escort from the US state department and military would be meeting with a leader from North Korea,” George Lopez, an expert on North Korea and based at Notre Dame University, said.

“What would have been so critical in his bag of tricks that he would have met with an American lawmaker, this one distinctively?”

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