ICE Barbie’s Fresh DHS Embarrassment Exposed

Politics admin July 7, 2026 0 Comments

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s office has asked border officials to track down and delete any remaining airport videos featuring his fired predecessor, Kristi Noem.

Noem, 54, fronted Donald Trump’s mass deportation drive until March 5, when criticism from both sides of the aisle prompted the president to fire her. Mullin, 48, an ex-senator from Oklahoma, was sworn in on March 25, and he has spent the months since dismantling her legacy.

The latest step came in an email from the secretary’s office to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, asking whether any recordings of Noem were still running at airports or other entry points, according to a message obtained by HuffPost and reported Tuesday. “If so, please kindly remove them as soon as possible and provide confirmation of removal,” the email, sent last week, stated.

The purge comes a day after the Daily Beast reported that Mullin had scrapped the fleet of around 2,500 branded ICE vehicles ordered under Noem, which agents warned made them targets.

Her exit has not slowed the deportation machine. The New York Times reported on July 1 that ICE rounded up more than 10,000 people in just five days, part of what the paper called a “major surge.”

Citing internal documents, the Times said agents “arrested people at check-ins with immigration authorities, during traffic stops and on the street.”

Noem rarely missed a chance to get in front of a camera during her year running DHS. She recorded a string of official videos that played to passengers at security lines and passport desks across the country—and starred in several other controversial productions.

In March 2025, she delivered a warning to undocumented immigrants from inside El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, a cell of tattooed inmates lined up behind her. “This is one of the consequences you could face,” she said in the clip posted to X. She wore a $50,000 Rolex during the visit, The New York Times reported.

Seven months later came a TSA video in which she pinned the government shutdown on Democrats in Congress. Ethics experts said the partisan message broke the Hatch Act, NPR reported, and some airports refused to screen it, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Noem’s screen time ultimately helped sink her. Among the apparent reasons for her firing was her congressional testimony over a $200 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign starring the then-DHS chief astride a horse and wearing in a cowboy hat.

Part of the cash went to a GOP consultancy with close ties to Noem, according to ProPublica. She testified under oath that Trump had signed off on the spending.

DHS did not immediately respond when HuffPost asked whether Noem still features in announcements at ports of entry. The Daily Beast has contacted DHS for comment.