‘ICE Barbie’: Who is Kirsti Noem, the hardline anti-immigrant secretary who was fired by Donald Trump?

Kristi Noem, now former head of the US Department of Homeland Security g1 The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced this Thursday (5) the resignation of Kristi Noem from the position of Secretary of Homeland Security. She will be replaced by U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma. The announcement was made through a post on the Truth Social network. In it, Trump said that Noem will now be a special government envoy and praised her actions, especially at the country’s border, to reduce the number of immigrants in the country: “The current Secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us very well and achieved numerous and spectacular results (especially at the border!), will become Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere, which we will announce on Saturday in Doral, Florida. I thank Kristi for her service.” Noem has become the target of numerous criticisms in recent months amid the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policy crisis. She faced questions from Republican parliamentarians this week, during congressional hearings, on several issues — among them, what she knew about a million-dollar advertising contract. Trump administration announces withdrawal of ICE agents from Minnesota Who is Kristi Noem? Dubbed the “ICE Barbie” by critics, Noem became the face of the Trump administration’s erratic anti-immigration policy and was at the forefront of criticism over the actions of federal immigration agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis after two US citizens were shot to death in the city. Noem was burned by her stance on the crisis in Minneapolis and began to stagger in office with demands from Republicans and Democrats in Congress for her resignation. She collects very controversial episodes in her biography and made a point of telling in her book that she murdered her own dog, her 14-month-old puppy, Cricket, because she considered him untamed. “I hated that dog”, explained the then governor. She also reported having killed a goat on the family farm: “It was bad, disgusting and smelly.” The story resurfaced at the end of 2024, when US President Donald Trump was assembling his cabinet for his second term in the White House. Reported coldly, the episode triggered collective indignation and made Noem become the target of memes and mockery.

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