EXCLUSIVE — Joy, celebration, and even happy tears swept through Department of Homeland Security agency offices Thursday afternoon as news that President Donald Trump had removed Secretary Kristi Noem from her post.
Trump administration insiders, including senior DHS officials, told the Washington Examiner they were stunned by Trump’s sudden decision to replace Noem at the helm of the third-largest federal department, following several months of scandal and negative press.
But the shock was short-lived as relief and joy set in among those who had worked under and even alongside Noem and her adviser, special government employee Corey Lewandowski.
“People in the office are actually crying out of happiness,” said one person.
Noem served in her post for more than 13 months and helped the White House carry out its mass deportation operation. She was frequently out in front of cameras while visiting with DHS employees nationwide and was the star of flashy social media videos, but behind closed doors, senior officials in Washington and in the field said her team made their jobs incredibly difficult.
“We’ve seen fake news and calls for resignation. I usually sympathize with the principle and instinctively, and actually, know the stories of their behavior are overstated or inaccurate. I cannot say that today,” a senior DHS official wrote in a text message Thursday afternoon. “Her actions have led to the reputational loss of the DHS. Her continued hobbling of the component heads leads to more negativity regarding law enforcement pros. I suspect this is hard for POTUS, he deserves better!”
Another source, a senior administration official, initially responded with an emoji of a smiling face with a halo, suggesting joy at the announcement.
That official pointed out that Lewandowski, though a special government employee legally bound to work fewer than 130 days per year, played a significant role in day-to-day operations across DHS. Lewandowski’s future remains to be seen, but all who spoke with the Washington Examiner were hopeful that he would depart along with Noem.
“The leaders of CBP and ICE will be able to do their job without constant interference and harassment by Corey Lewandowski,” the official wrote in a text message, optimistic that Lewandowski would also depart soon.
In January, the Washington Examiner was first to report that Noem and Lewandowski were waging an internal campaign to force Trump’s hand-picked commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Rodney Scott, to resign because he had pushed back over the DHS’s aggressive approach to deportations and Lewandowski’s legal authority to continue working.
Sources said the lengths that the two took to push Scott toward the exit were “evil,” even forcing his top staff members to take random jobs across the department in various parts of the country to make his work unpleasant. Noem and Lewandowski were said to be eyeing Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks to replace Scott, though Scott has refused to resign.
Noem and Lewandowski had also tapped Border Patrol’s El Centro, California, chief Greg Bovino, to singlehandedly lead Border Patrol operations in the interior of the country, assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
After descending on several cities in mid-2025 through early 2026, the operations had devolved into a chaotic state in Minneapolis, and Noem was forced to remove Bovino from his job overseeing the at-large operations, as public support in polls declined swiftly following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens.
White House border czar Tom Homan was dispatched to Minneapolis for several weeks and has since steered the operation in a single operation that will focus on arresting specific violent illegal immigrants, not approaching or arresting illegal immigrants in public. Homan, the former acting director of ICE, also streamlined one chain of command for ICE operations, aided by other federal agencies.
Given Lewandowski’s heavy-handedness in immigration operations behind the scenes, the second person was doubtful that Lewandowski would depart.
“Corey will endure, and he should be investigated and condemned for his malicious influence,” the official wrote.
A fourth person, a senior DHS official, said Lewandowski “should be gone too, but it wouldn’t hurt for some folks to ask openly and make sure that happens!”
A fifth person, a former senior official, stated in a text message, “Hopefully we have seen the last of Corey,” adding that “he is not a good person.”
In addition, Noem has accumulated a mountain of personal and professional problems in recent months that ranged from her department’s issuance of noncompeted contracts, an alleged extramarital affair with Lewandowski, her portrayal of events of two police-involved shootings in Minnesota, and other concerns that lawmakers voiced in oversight hearings this week.
Democrats, even some Republicans, on the House and Senate’s judiciary committees grilled Noem over the allotment of a $220 million DHS contract for advertisements that prominently featured the secretary.
Trump was upset Wednesday and Thursday over Noem’s claim on Capitol Hill that she had discussed the massive contract with him and had his support for moving forward with the expenditure, Punchbowl News reported. Hours later, Trump posted on Truth Social that Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) would replace Noem and that Noem would move into a new administration position.
TRUMP OUSTS KRISTI NOEM AS DHS SECRETARY AND TAPS MARKWAYNE MULLIN TO TAKE HER PLACE
The DHS did not respond to a request for comment on when Noem will officially depart the department, but Trump said Mullin will step in as her replacement on March 31.
Noem will lead a Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, a new security initiative in the Western Hemisphere slated to be rolled out in Doral, Florida, this weekend, according to Trump.
