Insiders Say Trump Move Is a Major ‘Disaster’ for ICE Barbie
President Trump’s shakeup in Minnesota immigration operations in the wake of two fatal shootings is “a disaster” for Kristi Noem, sources have told the Daily Beast.Trump, 79, announced Monday that border czar Tom Homan, 64, will now run the embattled Minnesota operation and report directly to him. He did so amid rising public anger over the brutal and deadly manner in which operations have been carried out on Noem’s watch under her Border Patrol “commander-at-large” Gregory Bovino, who has been shown the door by the president.For months, senior officials have griped that Homeland Security Secretary Noem, 54, and her chief adviser and rumored lover, Corey Lewandowski, 52, built a parallel power structure around Bovino, 55. This, they say, marginalized ICE and cut Homan out of key calls as Noem and Homan both fought to lead Trump’s mass deportation drive.With Homan now tapped to take the reins in Minnesota, administration insiders say it doesn’t bode well for Noem’s job prospects. “Homan taking control is a disaster for Noem,” one Department of Homeland Security source said, adding that Homan was likely to be everything that the publicity-obsessed Noem and Bovino were not. Homan and Noem started Trump's second term all smiles. Things have since soured. ROBERTO SCHMIDT/ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images Homan, a hardline enforcer who is nonetheless said to have pushed for moving away from Bovino’s style of broad immigration sweeps in favor of more targeted operations, is seen by some inside the administration as the only figure with enough credibility to negotiate a truce with Minnesota leaders while still satisfying Trump’s base.He has already begun private talks with state officials about scaling back the visible footprint of federal agents, even as Trump publicly insists his enforcement machine will not slow down.“Expect Homan to be the calm adult who’ll cut a deal and cool things off—maybe access to state jails in exchange for reduced street enforcement,” another DHS insider said.Trump himself said Tuesday: “I hear things are going very nicely,” when asked about Homan’s discussions with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, adding, “We’re going to de-escalate a little bit.”Noem’s personnel choices have only deepened internal distrust. Career officials have fumed at her reliance on Lewandowski and her loyal deputy Madison Sheahan, 28, who was installed as ICE’s number two despite a thin enforcement résumé and was widely seen as Lewandowski’s eyes and ears inside the agency. Sheahan stepped down earlier this month to launch a congressional bid, making her exit even as the agency found itself embroiled in controversy after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good. Before her departure this month, Madison Sheahan was a close ally of Noem, and her departure suggests Noem's position is weakened. Madison Sheahan Even before the Minnesota bloodshed, Trump was said to be irritated by some of Noem’s splashiest moves at DHS—especially work-site raids that hammered businesses, including one on a Hyundai plant, and her heavy-handed control of FEMA grantmaking, as reported by The New York Times. In that account and others, ICE rank-and-file were reported to have mocked her for turning enforcement actions into cosplay photo ops, including an infamous Phoenix raid where her tactical vest wasn’t even strapped on properly, and they’ve taken to using the Beast’s now infamous “ICE Barbie” nickname for her habit of treating operations like a fashion runway.Noem's love for dolling up for the cameras on ICE raids has earned her the nickname “ICE Barbie.” Homeland Security/Handout/Getty Images Added into an already toxic mix is Noem’s increasingly difficult relationship with Trump’s immigration policy lead, Stephen Miller. The Beast revealed on Monday that Miller and Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, had turned on Noem and Lewandowski over their “miscalculation” in making Bovino and his hardline “Green Machine” Border Patrol agents the public face of the immigration drive, turning off the public.Since then, Miller and Noem have engaged in a briefing war. Noem was accused Tuesday of trying to blame Trump’s deputy chief of staff in order to save her job as she sought to explain why she had responded to the Jan. 24 killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti, 37, by describing Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” despite all evidence showing that not to be the case.Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem danced together at Trump's NYE party, but behind the scenes, all was not well. X The Homeland Security secretary was reported to have told allies that “everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen,” Axios reported.Miller, who had earlier fanned the flames by calling Pretti an “assassin” on X, insisted to the outlet that “any early comments made were based on information sent to the White House through CBP,” and said the administration was “evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol.”“Noem is clearly trying to throw Miller under the bus,” a senior administration official told the Beast. “But does Kristi really want to go to war with Stephen?” Trump is said to have grown tired of some of Noem's conduct. Chip Somodevilla/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The source suggested, given the importance of Miller to Trump, that doing so would be messy, and there would likely be only one winner—who would not be Noem.In Trump’s endless gaming of the situation, he has, though, left Miller conspicuously absent from the clean-up effort. Miller was not included in a two-hour Oval Office summit on Monday night, during which Trump, Noem, and Lewandowski huddled over the crisis. Inside the West Wing, that exclusion has become the talk of the building—read by some as a warning that Trump is tired of Miller’s maximalist instincts. Others believe Noem’s future now depends on proving her loyalty to the man she just tried to throw under the bus.As one DHS-aligned source put it: “The feeling is that they’re pursuing a more moderate push under Homan—back to worst of the worst—and obviously Miller would oppose.” The Daily Beast has contacted DHS for comment. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded to a request for comment by linking to remarks Trump made Tuesday about Noem “doing a very good job” and insisting she won’t be stepping down.
