El presidente estadounidense, Donald Trump, anunció este jueves que destituyó a la secretaria de Seguridad Nacional Kristi Noem.

La funcionaria tenía a su cargo la polémica política migratoria a través de las redadas contra indocumentados en todo el país.

Leé también: Los kurdos quieren combatir a los ayatollah: contactos con la CIA y el riesgo de una guerra civil en Irán

Trump anunció que Noem dejará el cargo a partir del 31 de marzo. La sustituirá el senador de Oklahoma Markwayne Mullin, mientras la agencia permanece cerrada por falta de fondos.

El mandatario republicano hizo el anuncio en redes sociales, dos días después que Noem enfrentara un duro interrogatorio en el Capitolio por parte de miembros del Partido Republicano, así como de legisladores demócratas.

El futuro de Kristi Noem

Trump anunció además que designará a Noem como “Enviada Especial para el Escudo de las Americas”, una nueva iniciativa de seguridad que, afirmó, se centrará en el hemisferio occidental.

Noem es la primera secretaria del gabinete en dejar el cargo durante el segundo mandato de Trump. Su salida pone fin a un periodo turbulento al frente de tácticas de control migratorio que fueron recibidas con protestas y demandas, con manifestantes y disturbios en grandes ciudades como Los Angeles.

El año pasado, Estados Unidos afirmó haber deportado a unos 600.000 inmigrantes sin papeles. Sin embargo, durante la gestión de Noem se sucedieron las denuncias de arrestos y expulsiones de migrantes con documentación provisoria.

Según afirmaron, eran esperados en los juzgados migratorios por agentes especiales para ser detenidos, procesados y expulsados. Esta política de persecución contra las comunidades migrantes, en especial la latina, desató una ola de pánico entre los extranjeros.

Las fuerzas del Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE) patrullaron comunidades hispanas, realizaron allanamientos en lugares de trabajo, en iglesias y hasta en las puertas de escuelas, lo que provocó airadas protestas de la comunidad latina.

Además, la figura de Noem quedó en medio de una fuerte controversia tras los tiroteos fatales de agentes del ICE en el que murieron dos ciudadanos estadounidenses.

Leé también: El FMI advirtió que la guerra en Medio Oriente dañará la economía global: “Agrava un entorno incierto”

Según la prensa local, Trump habría tomado su decisión tras las audiencias de Noem en el Congreso, durante las cuales se vio en aprietos por la adjudicación de un importante contrato público. Entonces fue duramente cuestionada por senadores demócratas y también por el republicano Thom Tillis, que pidió su dimisión y recordó el polémico episodio de su libro en el que Noem relataba cómo había matado a su perra y a una cabra.

El departamento de Seguridad Nacional se encuentra parcialmente cerrado por falta de fondos desde el 14 de febrero a la espera de que demócratas y republicanos acuerden cambios en los procesos operativos de las redadas migratorias que desatasquen la aprobación de la partida presupuestaria.

Al margen de las controvertidas redadas, la presión sobre Noem fue aumentando en los últimos días frente a una polémica y agresiva campaña para publicitar la labor de su departamento adjudicada el año pasado. Se conoció que su cartera abanderó una “emergencia” fronteriza para justificar la concesión, sin licitación previa, de la campaña, valorada en unos 220 millones de dólares, a una entidad controlada por el marido de la exportavoz del propio de la secretaría de Seguridad, Tricia McLaughlin.

Qué dijo Donald Trump

En un extenso mensaje en su red Truth Social, Trump afirmó: “Me complace anunciar que el muy respetado senador estadounidense del gran estado de Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, asumirá el cargo de Secretario de Seguridad Nacional (DHS) de Estados Unidos a partir del 31 de marzo de 2026″.

“La actual secretaria, Kristi Noem, quien nos ha servido eficazmente y ha obtenido numerosos y espectaculares resultados (¡especialmente en la frontera!), pasará a ser Enviada Especial para el Escudo de las Américas, nuestra nueva Iniciativa de Seguridad en el Hemisferio Occidental que anunciaremos el sábado en Doral, Florida», indicó.

Leé también: La guerra sacude al Líbano: evacúan el sur de Beirut y se intensifican los ataques entre Israel y Hezbollah

Además, señaló: “Agradezco a Kristi su servicio. Tras 10 años en la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos y 3 en el Senado, Markwayne ha realizado una labor excepcional representando al maravilloso pueblo de Oklahoma, donde gané en 77 de los 77 condados en 2016, 2020 y 2024″.

“Un guerrero MAGA y ex luchador profesional invicto de MMA (Artes Marciales Kixtas), Markwayne se lleva muy bien con la gente y posee la sabiduría y el coraje necesarios para impulsar nuestra agenda de ‘América Primero’. Como el único nativo americano en el Senado, Markwayne es un defensor excepcional de nuestras increíbles comunidades tribales”, prosiguió.

En el final de su posteo, dijo: “Markwayne trabajará incansablemente para mantener nuestra frontera segura, detener la delincuencia migratoria, los asesinos y otros delincuentes que ingresan ilegalmente a nuestro país, acabar con el flagelo de las drogas ilegales y hacer que Estados Unidos vuelva a ser seguro. Markwayne será un excelente Secretario de Seguridad Nacional. ¡Gracias por su atención!“.

(Con información de AFP, EFE y AP)

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, President Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the embattled Department of Homeland Security, is a supporter of strict immigration enforcement who, in the last year, has proved invaluable in getting key pieces of the president’s agenda across the finish line.

A first-term senator who identifies as Native American, Mullin is a self-described «bull in a China cabinet» who was instrumental in the Senate’s passage of the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill. Lora Ries, a border security and immigration expert at the Heritage Foundation, predicted to Fox News Digital that Mullin will have a focused leadership approach as head of DHS.

«It won’t be about him, it’s about the mission, and it’s about carrying out the president’s agenda to maintain a secure border, but also mass deportations,» she said.

Shortly after news of his appointment broke, Mullin called it a «big surprise» but said he is «excited» to take on the role.

«The president and I have a really good relationship; we talk all the time anyway. I wasn’t, to be quite honest with you, expecting the call today. But it’s super exciting,» he told reporters outside the Capitol.

He said that his focus as DHS secretary will be to «keep the homeland secure.»

«Nothing is going to prevent me from doing my job,» he continued. «I’m going to enforce the policies and the laws that Congress has passed, and we’re going to protect the homeland.»

Ries said that Mullin’s appointment signals Trump doubling down on his agenda of maintaining a secure border. Ries also said she does not expect the transition from outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem to Mullin to disrupt the agency’s enforcement operations.  

«We can’t waste any time, given we’re concerned with sleeper cells from Iran and other locations, terrorist threats that Joe Biden let into the country,» she added.

SCHUMER, DEMS HOLD FIRM ON DHS FUNDING DESPITE NOEM’S BOMBSHELL OUSTING

Immigrants wait to be processed at a U.S. Border Patrol transit center after they crossed the border from Mexico on December 20, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

At 48 years old, Mullin is a husband and father of six. He has served in the Senate for just over three years, entering office in January 2023. Before that, he served in the House of Representatives for about 10 years.

Currently, Mullin serves as the chair of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee. He does not serve on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the panel that he will soon sit before during his confirmation process.

He is also a member of Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s, R-S.D., leadership team and proved a decisive asset in extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts last year.

It was, however, the relationships he built in the lower chamber that made him a de facto liaison with his former House colleagues. That role began when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., with whom Mullin was close friends, was in leadership and has continued under House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. 

That role as liaison, which Mullin previously told Fox News Digital he never wanted, made him an invaluable asset last year when Republicans were trying to pass Trump’s big beautiful bill. Mullin had already become a member of Thune’s whip team and offered to help bridge the policy gap between House Republicans and Senate Republicans to ensure the legislation was passed.

Both chambers were going back and forth on the bill, which Mullin told Fox News Digital last year wasn’t necessarily «a good indication that we were butting heads.» 

«Everybody was very passionate about this,» Mullin said. «I mean, they’ve been working for a long time. We looked at it as maybe a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us to be able to get this done.»

ILLEGAL’S DRAGGING OF ICE AGENT SHOWS THE EXACT DANGER THE OFFICER WHO SHOT RENEE GOOD FEARED, EXPERT SAYS

Then-Sen.-elect, Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. is seen in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, November 15, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

On Mullin’s website, he states, «We are a nation of laws, and those laws must be upheld.»

«We must ensure our immigration laws are enforced, bring back the Remain in Mexico policy, finish building the wall, and end the liberal incentives that are fueling the worst border crisis in American history,» Mullin’s website reads.

Mullin has harshly criticized Democrats for moving to defund DHS, saying, «If we defund the Department of Homeland Security, they do a lot more than arrest illegals. You walk through the airport, they’re providing security. The Department of Homeland Security is there for a reason … They protect us from threats at home and abroad, around the United States and across the world.»

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

After the lapse in DHS funding, Mullin slammed the Democrats for «political theater,» saying he was focused on restoring the funding.

When asked if there were any lessons Mullin had learned from her tumultuous tenure atop the agency, he noted that he and Noem were close friends, but that he had not yet had time to call her yet after receiving the news.

«Our families are friends. She was tasked to do a very difficult job. And I think she has, she has performed the best she can do,» Mullin said.

«Is there always lessons that can be learned? You know, listen, my wife and I, we have, over the years, we have been fortunate enough to purchase companies and grow our companies, and every day there’s something you can do better,» he continued. «And so, I think there’s, there’s an opportunity to build off successes, and there’s also opportunities to build off things that maybe didn’t go quite as planned.»

Mullin said he and Trump are «great friends» and «I look forward to working for him on his cabinet.» He noted, «Of course, we still have this whole thing called confirmation, and we’re going to get started on that right away.»

Israeli forces struck a meeting of Iran’s Supreme Council on Tuesday as officials gathered to choose a successor to the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a senior Israeli official told Fox News.

«Israel struck while they were counting the votes for the appointment of the supreme leader,» the official said.

The strike came just south of Tehran as Iran continued targeting Israeli population centers, with Israel signaling that continued attacks on civilians would not be tolerated.

Israeli officials believe multiple Iranian officials responsible for counting the votes in the succession process were killed in the strike. The officials were not among the ruling clerics or top mullahs, but the attack marked a substantial escalation as Israel continued expanding its target set inside Iran.

The strike underscored the depth of Israeli intelligence penetration inside Tehran and marked one of the most dramatic escalations yet in the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign aimed at dismantling Iran’s political and military leadership from the top down.

It came as Iran’s leadership structure appeared increasingly hollowed out.

More than 40 of Iran’s most senior leaders — including Khamenei — have been killed since the operation began, with 49 eliminated in the opening salvo of Operation Epic Fury early Saturday, fracturing the regime’s command structure and dealing a crippling blow to its military leadership and command-and-control networks.

Israeli analysts estimated that more than 1,000 enemy combatants have been killed inside Iran since the United States launched Operation Epic Fury and Israel launched its parallel campaign, Operation Roaring Lion, on Saturday. The estimate came from Israel’s latest battle damage assessment, according to a senior Israeli official.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu framed the conflict as part of a broader effort to neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear ambitions.

KEY MILITARY SITES TARGETED INSIDE IRAN AS PART OF COORDINATED US-ISRAELI STRIKES

Pro-Iran protesters brandish weapons and signs depicting the late Iranian leader Ali Khamenei at a protest in Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)

«With these ballistic missiles, these weapons of mass death, these weapons, they bombed all these countries,» Netanyahu said. «And when they developed these ballistic missiles, they’ll try and eventually they’ll bomb you. This is what President Trump understood.»

Vice President JD Vance said the administration had set a clear, limited objective for the operation.

«There’s just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict, with no clear end in sight and no clear objective,» Vance said. «He’s defined that objective as Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has to commit long-term to never trying to rebuild the nuclear capability.»

The joint U.S.-Israel assault entered its fourth day Tuesday, with no signs of slowing down.

A satellite image from Planet Labs shows a plume of smoke above Tehran, Iran, on March 1, 2026. (Planet Labs PBC)

President Donald Trump said the plan was ahead of schedule following the early elimination of Iran’s top leaders.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The U.S. urged Americans to leave 14 countries across the Middle East as Iran’s counterattacks intensified. The State Department also closed two embassies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf Cooperation Council warned Iran it would take «all necessary measures,» including possible military action, in response to Tehran’s missile and drone attacks.

Related Article