U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem adjusts her hair before a television interview, outside the White House in Washington, DC. U.S., January 15, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is not long for the administration if top aides in the administration have their way.
The Daily Beast reported exclusively that "for months," top officials in President Donald Trump's White House have been complaining about Noem and her chief adviser, "and rumored lover," Corey Lewandowski.
The two created a kind of "parallel power structure" around U.S. Customs and Border Protection commander Greg Bovino and "marginalized" Tom Homan, who officially serves as Trump's executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations.
Bovino has been sidelined and sent out of Minnesota, with the expectation that he'll be forced into retirement soon. Homan has been sent into Minnesota to handle operations on the ground for now.
According to the Beast, Homan has wanted to move away from Bovino's "broad immigration sweeps" and instead focus on more "targeted operations."
It flies in the face of capture quotas previously set by deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. Forbes reported in May 2025 that Miller demanded DHS arrest at least 3,000 undocumented immigrants per day. Miller specifically wanted an increase in workplace raids and the apprehension of noncriminal migrants to meet the goal.
The Beast said that some inside the administration see Homan as the only one able to lead on the issue with "enough credibility" to negotiate with Minnesota leaders who want federal agents out of Minneapolis and, indeed, the state. Homan hasn't been successful yet. According to an unconfirmed claim from Trump, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey refused to cooperate with federal law enforcement.
One DHS insider told the Beast: “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."
A major concern from career officials is that Noem has come to rely too much on Lewandowski, the report continued.
Trump hasn't been happy with Noem, with haphazard moves that include work-site raids that target businesses, such as the Hyundai plant in Georgia, which deported a number of skilled workers on valid visas helping set up the new plant, The New York Times said.
Meanwhile, Noem mandated that all funding be approved by her personally. It means Federal Emergency Management funding for disaster relief lingers frozen on her desk, NOTUS reported.
While she has been mocked by critics for her photo-ops, even ICE agents have made fun of her for wearing tactical vests that weren't strapped on correctly and wearing large cowboy hats while on the border. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that some agents have started calling her "ICE Barbie," the mocking nickname the Beast invented.
As one CNN host described it, the "blame game" has already begun.
Noem has been fighting for her job by trying to blame Miller for the recent flubs, saying, “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen."
“Noem is clearly trying to throw Miller under the bus,” said one senior administration official when speaking to the Beast. “But does Kristi really want to go to war with Stephen?”