Noem in the hot seat after Minneapolis shooting

 

Noem in the hot seat after Minneapolis shooting

 

The Trump administration is still publicly backing the DHS secretary, but criticism is mounting, and there are signs she’s being sidelined.

 

By Eric Bazail-Eimil

01/26/2026 08:02 PM EST

Updated: 01/26/2026 11:36 PM EST

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/26/kristi-noem-scrutiny-minneapolis-shootings-00748618

 

White House allies are increasingly blaming one person for the chaotic fallout of the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minneapolis: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

 

The thrusts of the criticism are familiar, that Noem rushed to the cameras too quickly and sabotaged any independent probe into Saturday’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents. But this time, they’re occurring more publicly, as the White House takes steps to revisit its strategy in Minneapolis.

 

In one of the most high-profile public rebukes of the DHS chief, Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) wrote on social media that Noem’s actions around the shooting “undermine public trust and the law-enforcement mission.”

 

“I disagree with Secretary Noem’s premature DHS response, which came before all the facts were known and weakened confidence,” Curtis wrote.

 

Noem is also now expected to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee after maneuvering from the panel’s chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

 

Conservative radio host Erick Erickson, an influential voice with evangelical voters central to the MAGA base, has jabbed Noem in social media posts since Saturday’s shooting, accusing her of “driving tensions” in the name of “great coverage.”

 

Frustrations with Noem are palpable among immigration hawks as well. Mark Krikorian, who leads the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors restrictions on legal immigration and crackdowns on unauthorized migration, said when asked about Noem’s standing in the administration that Noem has “made herself a lightning rod” for criticism.

 

Publicly, the White House is standing by Noem. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Monday that she enjoys “the utmost confidence and trust of the president of the United States.”

 

But the White House’s decision Monday to dispatch border czar Tom Homan to oversee ICE operations in Minneapolis suggests that Trump wants changes from the approach Noem has championed to date.

 

A White House official told POLITICO on Monday that “Homan going is not a vote of confidence for” Noem.

 

Noem has butted heads previously with Homan on how to approach enforcement. Homan, who spent most of his career working as an immigration officer, has pushed to protect ICE as an institution and focus efforts on deporting unauthorized immigrants with criminal records. Noem, meanwhile, has focused on using social media to project an image of exceedingly aggressive immigration enforcement.

 

Noem also elevated Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino to serve as the essential head of operations in Minneapolis. Leavitt told reporters Monday that Homan, not Bovino, would be the “main point of contact” going forward in Minneapolis. Bovino is also being moved out of Minneapolis, an administration official told POLITICO.

 

DHS did not respond to a request for comment. Noem has said little since Trump distanced himself from the shooting on Sunday night, but she praised Trump’s decision to send Homan to Minneapolis in a social media post on Monday.

 

A senior DHS official, granted anonymity to speak about internal thinking, insisted Noem did her best to inform the public about the shooting and swatted away suggestions that discord exists among the president’s team.

 

“There is only one page: the president’s page. Everyone’s on the same page,” the official said.

 

Some in the administration were already frustrated with Noem’s reaction to the shooting of 37-year-old Nicole Good on Jan. 7, also in Minneapolis. The DHS chief seemingly rushed to respond to that incident before all the facts were known. In the days after that shooting, ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan, a Noem ally who ran South Dakota’s Republican Party when Noem was the state’s governor, left her post in January to run for Congress in Ohio.

 

Voters have soured on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in recent months. Republican polling firm Echelon Insights found in a survey of registered voters published Monday that more people now say ICE operations in public areas make them feel unsafe, a drop from their findings a few months ago when attitudes were more evenly split.

 

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Democrats have ramped up calls for Noem to resign or face impeachment proceedings over the way ICE and Border Patrol have conducted immigration enforcement operations and for allegedly mismanaging a major infusion of federal funds into the department allocated via the One Big Beautiful Bill.

 

Other Republican lawmakers, while not naming Noem, have called on the agency leaders that report to her to testify. Some, such as House Homeland Security Chair Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), represent states or congressional districts where Trump only narrowly defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 elections.

 

Despite the growing pressure on Noem, Krikorian argued she’s unlikely to be ousted.

 

“It would be a win for the anti-border radicals” and “embolden” efforts to resist ICE operations elsewhere, Krikorian said.

 

Dasha Burns and Myah Ward contributed to this report