'ICE Barbie': Trump DHS secretary slammed for social media stunt during Texas tragedy
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference to discuss the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s "National Farm Security Action Plan", outside the USDA in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
In a Monday, July 7 post on Instagram, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem highlighted three photos of her on horseback and asked social media users to pick the one they liked best.
The former South Dakota governor posted, "Which one do you like for the official Governor's portrait to hang in the South Dakota State Capitol?"
According to The Independent's Kelly Rissman, Noem is drawing criticism for engaging in such self-promotion at a time when counties in Central Texas are coping with a major tragedy. More than 100 deaths have been reported in that part of the state due to severe flash flooding.
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"Noem visited the disaster-struck state over the weekend," Rissman reports in an article published on July 8. "The DHS oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which helps in disaster response. At the time she posted the photo, dozens had died as a result of the floods; that number has since climbed to more than 100 people."
An Instagram user posted, "70+ dead, many of [them] children…and others still missing AND THIS IS WHAT THE PUPPY SHOOTER IS POSTING RIGHT NOW?"
The "puppy shooter" comment was in reference to an anecdote in Noem's book. Noem recalled the time she took a puppy to a gravel pit and fatally shot it.
Another Instagram user accused Noem of "doing nothing about" the flooding in Texas.
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Rissman notes that Noem is receiving a lot of criticism for her frequent photo-ops, which range from riding a camel in Bahrain to posing in a notorious prison in El Salvador to posing with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Some of Noem's critics mockingly call her "ICE Barbie."
Conservative activist Meghan McCain, on her YouTube show, said of Noem, "I don't think that it is productive to have a full face of hair and makeup and hair extensions…. when you're doing things like that… If I were giving her some advice, I would be like, 'How about pulling our hair back in a baseball cap and not doing a photo-op?'"
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Read The Independent's full article at this link (subscription required).
