Trump ousts Kristi Noem, who oversaw aggressive immigration crackdown

Ms Noem will leave her post as homeland security chief at the end of the month. Read more at straitstimes.com.

WASHINGTON - Ms Kristi Noem, who oversaw US President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown and faced bipartisan criticism in hearings this week, will leave her role as homeland security chief at the end of the month.

Mr Trump will tap Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin to replace her, he said on his Truth Social platform, a move that would require US Senate confirmation.

Ms Noem, a former governor of South Dakota, became one of Mr Trump’s most high-profile Cabinet secretaries, with social media posts that portrayed immigrants in harsh terms, highlighting cases of alleged criminal offenders and using vitriolic language.

She faced criticism in January when she quickly labelled two US citizens fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis as committing “domestic terrorism”.

Videos that emerged after the deaths undercut the assertion by Ms Noem and other Trump officials that the two deceased - Renee Good and Alex Pretti - were violent aggressors.

The public backlash for deaths led the Trump administration to move to a more targeted approach to immigration enforcement in Minnesota after months of sweeps through US cities that led to violent clashes with residents opposing the crackdown.