Kristi Noem prioritized immigration over everything else in homeland security’s large portfolio. That wasn’t her downfall

Analysis by John Miller, CNNSat, March 7, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC

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Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference February 4 on the US-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona,. - Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images

Kristi Noem’s government jet touched down Wednesday in Nashville, where a motorcade awaited.

Fifteen minutes later, the fleet of SUVs pulled into the loading dock of the Grand Hyatt Nashville, but the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security remained inside, behind the tinted glass.

Big city police union leaders who waited to greet her were told she was on an important call. Around 10 minutes later, Noem emerged and walked down the maze of hallways that lead to a room where those leaders and law enforcement officials had gathered.

“She was taking pictures with us. She was personable and smiling,” said Kenneth Corey, former NYPD chief of department. “You’d have no idea she had just been fired by the president while she was in the car.”

As the police leaders took their seats in the ballroom of the Major Cities Conference, there was a surprise performance by Lee Greenwood, the country singer and Trump favorite for his “God Bless the USA,” the unofficial anthem of MAGA and Trump rallies.

The music blared from the speakers and Greenwood raised his mic.

“If tomorrow all the things were gone that I’d worked for all my life…”

As Noem waited in the wings, hearing Greenwood sing these words, the bulletins began to flash across the phones in the room that a frustrated Trump had fired her.

The Major Cities Conference is an annual event, sponsored this year by the NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association and the Seattle Police Officers Guild. The meeting brings police union heads from across the country into dialogue with law enforcement executives and federal officials like Noem. This year, sanctuary cities, and the role of police in immigration enforcement was a main topic.

These accounts of Noem’s movements were told to CNN by multiple local law enforcement officials who attended the conference.

Kristi Noem speaks Thursday at the Major Cities Conference at the Grand Hyatt Nashville in Tennessee, shortly after President Donald Trump announced she would be replaced as Homeland Security secretary. - Nicole Hester/USA Today Network/Reuters

As Noem took the stage, likely realizing everyone in the room knew she had been fired, she began her speech by referring to Trump’s State of the Union address and she describing the mission of DHS.

“It’s to fulfill our duty to protect American citizens, that they should come first under our Constitution and our laws and they should be prioritized, and especially over other people who are from other countries,” she said.

Noem never showed a sign there was anything amiss, said Vincent Vallelong, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association.

“She stayed focused during the speech, took a number of questions and gave thoughtful answers on how we can all work together,” Vallelong said. “Say what you want about politics, but she kept it together and kept the room together.”

DHS resources shifted in her tenure

Noem was confirmed by the Senate as DHS secretary on January 25, 2025, pledging to “work every day to keep all Americans safe and secure. One of my top priorities is achieving President Trump’s mandate from the American people to secure our southern border and fix our broken immigration system.”

While DHS earned high marks under Noem for improving border security and significantly reducing illegal crossings, the immigration enforcement in US cities quickly became a political lightning rod. DHS diverted resources from terrorism cases, human trafficking investigations and Secret Service missions to focus massive resources on what was mostly civil immigration enforcement.

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DHS touted targeting the “worst of the worst” but multiple studies found only a small percentage of those rounded up had a conviction for a violent crime. The enforcement sweeps led to protests across the country. Two recent flashpoints were the January confrontations in Minneapolis that ended in fatal shootings by immigration enforcement agents of Renee Good and Alex Pretti within days of each other. Both were protesters and both were American citizens.

Members of US Customs and Border Protection and other law enforcement officials stand in front of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis on January 17. - Seth Herald/Reuters

A large crowd marches down a street during during an anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis on January 23. - Robero Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

DHS is a massive department that houses over 20 high-profile agencies – including the TSA, the US Coast Guard and, of course, ICE – and has more than a quarter million employees and a budget of over $100 billion. Noem faced heavy criticism for eroding the core capabilities of DHS during her short-lived tenure.

Noem gutted Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the unit focused on protecting the US from cyberattacks, oversaw the dismissal of hundreds of staff from the disaster relief agency FEMA, and proposed reducing the Office of Intelligence and and Analysis staff from 1,000 to 275. Some of the cuts ultimately were reduced but it was clear the focus was immigration enforcement over counterterrorism or disaster relief.

Former DHS officials told CNN the cuts were followed by what they described as “witch hunts” that involved polygraph examinations for staffers who might be talking to the press. Collectively, the officials said, deteriorating morale drove a “brain drain” that caused many experienced professionals to leave DHS.

Noem remained steadfast and unapologetic about the shifts in DHS resources toward immigration enforcement. She defended the flooding of DHS agents into “sanctuary cities” with Democratic mayors because local law or policy barred police engaging in civil immigration enforcement. Trump defended her leadership and Stephen Miller, the president’s deputy chief of staff, continued to pressure DHS weekly for more numbers of people to be rounded up, according to multiple DHS officials.

The first cracks in White House support began to show after the killings of Good and Pretti, whom Noem described as domestic terrorists. But in the end, the political poison dart that ended her reign at DHS may not have had anything to do with how the agency was being run or even her insensitive defense of the killing of two US citizens by her agents. Noem’s downfall may have been a fundamental misunderstanding of what’s most important to the only person whose support mattered.

A $220 million ad campaign launched by Noem drew the attention of Congress, which wanted to hear more about that deal, who approved the cost and who got paid. ProPublica reported last year that the recipient of the lucrative advertising subcontract was the husband of a former DHS spokesperson.

Noem was the star of the TV ads. She was on the screen wearing her cowboy hat and riding a horse while describing the important work DHS was doing under her leadership. The ad showed Noem being greeted by DHS officers and children along the trail. One ad ends with the secretary atop her horse looking over a ridge with Mount Rushmore behind her.

This week, Noem testified under oath before Congress and was asked if Trump had known about the TV ads and what they cost. Noem said Trump did know. The president quickly said he did not. One former DHS senior executive summed it up this way: “You can embarrass the administration. That’s not going to get you fired. But you embarrass the president, that will get you fired.”

Kristi Noem testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. - Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

In Nashville Thursday, Noem soldiered through her speech and then took questions. Newark, New Jersey, police Capt. John Chrystal III, president of his department’s Superior Officers’ Association, asked Noem how the Trump administration would reconcile federal policies with state policies that bar police from sharing information with DHS about undocumented immigrants wanted for crimes.

Noem said she remained committed to pushing back on state laws blocking DHS access and was committed to talking with state leaders on working together.

“Oh, by the way, are you religious?” Chrystal asked after Noem finished speaking. “Because you’re the answer to all my prayers.”

“I am, sir,” Noem said, giggling. “Who knew?”

The room fell into laughter and applause.

John Miller is the Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst for CNN and served as Deputy Assistant Director of National Intelligence in 2009-2010.

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