(AFP) – Kristi Noem, the ousted Homeland Security chief who enforced President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, did not shy away from the spotlight — or the camera lens. The former South Dakota governor’s tenure was marked by an aggressive campaign to expel millions of undocumented migrants and high-profile photo ops. Noem posed in front of shirtless inmates who were deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, mounted a horse for a tour of the US-Mexico border, and swapped it for a camel during a visit to Bahrain. The self-promotion earned Noem a reputation for cosplay and the nickname “ICE Barbie” from her critics — a reference to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency which she headed.
But the 54-year-old’s leadership of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also drew objections from both Democrats and Republicans before her firing. Many lawmakers piled on following a second fatal shooting of an American citizen in Minneapolis by federal agents taking part in Noem’s roundup of undocumented migrants in the Minnesota city. In both cases, Noem jumped to the defense of the immigration agents before a formal investigation had been done and described the victims — a 37-year-old mother of three and a nurse at a veteran’s hospital — as “domestic terrorists.” While White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller is considered the architect of Trump’s hardline immigration policy, Noem was the person chiefly responsible for carrying it out and did so full throttle.
Among the more controversial moves by the Trump administration was the summary expulsion to El Salvador last March of more than 250 Venezuelans accused of having gang ties. The administration invoked the obscure 1798 Alien Enemies Act — last used to round up Japanese-American citizens during World War II — to justify the move. Noem later personally visited El Salvador’s maximum security CECOT prison where the deportees were taken and posted a message on X. “President Trump and I have a clear message to criminal illegal aliens: LEAVE NOW,” she said. “If you do not leave, we will hunt you down, arrest you, and you could end up in this El Salvadorian prison.”
Noem was also responsible for revoking temporary protected status from citizens of Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and several other countries, claiming that conditions have improved to the point that they can return home safely. The United States grants TPS to people deemed to be in danger if they return to their home countries because of war, natural disaster, or other “extraordinary” circumstances.
A staunch conservative and early supporter of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, Noem was raised on a ranch in South Dakota and represented the sparsely populated northern state in the US House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019 before being elected its governor. Noem was reportedly under consideration to be Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election, but she torpedoed her chances with the admission in her memoir that she had once shot and killed her family’s young dog. In the book, Noem described the 14-month-old dog, Cricket, as “untrainable,” an explanation which did not go over well for many pet-loving Americans. In recounting putting Cricket down, Noem explained that it showed she was ready to do “difficult” things in both her personal and political life.
– Selim SAHEB ETTABA
© 2024 AFP
