Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Thursday that the removal of Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security was overdue, while expressing skepticism that a leadership change alone will alter the administration’s immigration enforcement policies.
Speaking to reporters outside the Capitol after President Donald Trump announced Noem’s removal and the nomination of Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as her replacement, Schiff said he viewed her departure as positive but troubling in what it suggested about the administration’s priorities.
Schiff criticized the costly public relations campaign connected to Noem, calling it a $220 million misuse of taxpayer funds that he noted largely promoted her personally. According to Schiff, the contract behind the effort was awarded to a firm connected to the husband of one of her staff members and someone who had previously worked on her political messaging in South Dakota.
He pointed to reports that Noem acknowledging Trump’s support of her pricey PR campaign was what finally prompted the president to remove her. In other words, Trump fired Noem because she made him look bad, not because of her disastrous tenure that resulted in out-of-control law enforcement and the murders of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
“It says a lot about the priorities and concerns of this administration,” Schiff stated.
Schiff Remains Uncertain That Meaningful Changes Will Take Place In The DHS Under Mullin
Despite those criticisms, Schiff said he hopes the leadership change could open “a new chapter” for the Department of Homeland Security(DHS), though he added that he remains uncertain whether meaningful change will occur.
Asked by a reporter whether Noem’s removal might affect ongoing negotiations in Congress over DHS policy and funding, Schiff said the change “couldn’t hurt,” but suggested the White House is likely directing those discussions.
“I suspect that the White House is really running the DHS negotiations,” he said, adding that the administration will ultimately decide what reforms it is willing to support.
Schiff said he would reserve judgment on Mullin’s nomination until hearing directly from him during the confirmation process. While acknowledging he plans to evaluate the nominee on his own merits, Schiff said he remains skeptical that a new secretary would significantly alter the department’s policies.
He argued that those policies are largely shaped by the president, whom he called out for embracing disorder as a governing style—as military tensions continue to escalate in the Middle East.
“We’re now seeing chaos around the world,” Schiff said, describing Trump as a “chaos president.”
