When DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stepped to the microphones, just hours after the fatal shooting of activist Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on January 7, few details about the incident were publicly known.
In such situations, federal officials typically say they will need to wait for the findings of an investigation before passing judgment. So, her response was highly unexpected.
Flanked by burly, stone-faced agency officials and wearing a black DHS hat pulled down over her eyes, Noem claimed that Ms Good had committed an act of ‘domestic terrorism,’ ‘weaponized’ her car and ‘attempted to run a law enforcement officer over.’ The officer, she declared, followed his training.
Her comments sent shockwaves through the law enforcement community and America at large. One former senior DHS official tells the Daily Mail that Noem displayed ‘profound ignorance’ and a ‘disturbing disregard for the proper way to investigate an officer-involved shooting’ by not reserving her judgment.
Some Republicans in Congress echoed those sentiments and Democrats stepped up calls for Noem’s impeachment. But the Daily Mail can now reveal that the White House was nonplussed, because they had helped plan her remarks.
A source close to Noem says she had worked ‘very closely’ with senior White House officials on the specific messaging that the incident was an ‘act of domestic terrorism.’
Now, Noem’s handling of the shooting of Ms Good appears to signal a possible turning point in her troubled tenure as secretary, as well as in an internal agency struggle with Trump’s hand-picked border czar Tom Homan, according to multiple current and former DHS officials who spoke exclusively to the Daily Mail.
January 25 will mark Noem’s first full year as Homeland Security Secretary, during which she has strived to make herself the very public face of Trump’s mass deportation program.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is accompanied by security agents as she walks out of the White House on January 15, 2026
It has been a trial by fire for a woman labelled ‘ICE Barbie’ by detractors. She has become a frequent target of ridicule for Democrats and late-night comedians – ‘Why is Kristi Noem always in some sort of cosplay outfit?’ smirked Stephen Colbert.
Even before her appointment, Noem was widely derided over an admission in her book, released last year that while she was Governor of South Dakota (2019-2025), she shot and killed her family’s 14-month-old dog, which had bitten her and killed livestock. The theriocide became a national story, which Noem eventually addressed in a public statement.
Recently, walking through the halls of Congress carrying her infant granddaughter, Noem was accosted by a group of belligerent protesters. She was the ‘Gestapo’ and the new SS, they cried, even yelling that she was using the baby as a ‘political prop’. Noem, 54, barely noticed.
Within the Department of Homeland, sources tell the Daily Mail, Noem is in a fierce turf war with ‘border czar’ Tom Homan. On Thursday, Noem lost one of her key allies in the department as the deputy director of ICE, Madison Sheahan, 28, announced she was resigning to run for Congress.
Homan is said to want to prioritize deportation of the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens, while Noem aims to deport as many as possible, often in high-profile operations featuring herself in law enforcement gear.
Her critics inside the agency say her approach is inflaming the backlash against ICE, and the split has reverberated through the rank and file, with insiders telling the Daily Mail the situation is a ‘train wreck.’
Behind the scenes, at the Department of Homeland Security’s imposing headquarters, also lurks Corey Lewandowski, Noem’s trusted adviser and confidant.
Lewandowski is a former political adviser to President Trump and he officially serves in the administration as a temporary government employee. The Daily Mail has previously reported that Noem and Lewandowski are also secretly romantic partners.
Some in the department have found Lewandowski, to put it politely, abrasive.
Kristi Noem and Tom Homan (pictured) have been at odds on how to enforce immigration policy, according to sources
On Thursday, Noem lost one of her key allies in the department as the deputy director of ICE, Madison Sheahan (pictured) announced she was resigning to run for Congress.
In December, the Daily Mail reported that Lewandowski repeatedly encouraged DHS officials to issue him a federally approved gun, going so far as to make it a litmus test for a top candidate interviewing to become ICE director, according to multiple department sources.
Lewandowski denied the claims and alleged to the Daily Mail that Homan had planted the story, which elicited a rare rebuke of him from the White House.
‘Tom Homan is an American patriot who does not leak to the media and is very respectful of the White House’s press processes,’ said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in a direct response to Lewandowski’s claim.
These ill-feelings and other within the department, which has a $100 billion budget and 260,000 employees, contributed to a flurry of media speculation last month that Noem was about to be fired by President Trump.
‘Things are f***ed. It’s horrible, they (Noem and Lewandowski) are going to destroy this place,’ one insider told the Bulwark in December.
Noem was subsequently confronted with that assessment at a news conference in Tampa. She gave a wry smile and said she had ‘no indication’ she was on the chopping block.
And, indeed, Noem appears to be in good standing where it presumably matters most – the Oval Office.
Influential Trump advisor and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller tells the Daily Mail: ‘On behalf of President Trump, Secretary Noem is returning America to the American People. She has demonstrated exceptional leadership in responding to the wide array of threats and challenges facing our nation – from foreign cartels to mass migration to natural disasters – and has been instrumental in delivering so many historic wins for the American People.’
Stephen Miller told the Daily Mail that Noem had displayed ‘exceptional leadership’
Federal agents clash with rioters on the streets of Minneapolis
It has long been said that Trump has a particular loyalty to those who actively defend him in extremis and he notes who is on television fighting for him and his administration.
In the wake of the Minneapolis shooting, Noem was everywhere on the airwaves – and not just on safe ground. She ventured into the bear pit of CNN to face the network’s chief inquisitor Jake Tapper.
Noem maintained that the speed of her reaction to the shooting had been an effort to be transparent with the public and stuck to her position that it was an act of domestic terrorism. After 20 minutes, Tapper’s brow looked more furrowed than usual.
The reaction among MAGA supporters was clear – Noem ‘absolutely crushed,’ according to one conservative social media commentator.
Asked on Monday by the Daily Mail if Trump was satisfied with Noem’s handling of the crisis, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. ‘Yes, 100 percent.’
Even some rank-and-file law enforcement officials seem to be coming around on their new boss.
‘I think, the totality of Noem’s leadership, that there might be a little bit of questioning about if she’s doing this for attention, but ICE agents do appreciate that they’re getting support rather than immediately being thrown under the bus,’ one DHS official in direct contact with ICE agents says.
In contrast, shortly after the Minneapolis incident, Homan gave a more expected response, telling CBS News that he would not comment on an ongoing investigation.
One DHS official told the Daily Mail that ICE agents also appreciated Homan’s initial response, viewing it as far more measure compared to Noem’s more provocative approach.
Renee Good was shot dead by ICE in Minneapolis on January 7
Four days later, when asked by NBC if Noem was right to suggest that Good was a ‘domestic terrorist,’ Homan responded rather awkwardly: ‘I don’t know what Secretary Noem knows…’
The source close to Noem says that answer did not go over well at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
‘[Homan] did not echo the President’s support of the ICE officer, and people were surprised and disappointed about that,’ they say.
When pressed on previous media reports of Noem and Homan butting heads, the source told the Daily Mail: ‘I’m not going to dispute any of it.’
Setting aside speculation about the exact nature of the working relationship between Noem and Homan, there is no doubt that some in the law enforcement community want to see the back of her.
Several DHS officials have reached out the Daily Mail in the wake of Noem deputy Madison Sheahan’s resignation on Thursday, to express their disdain for a woman seen by some as unqualified for the position.
Sheahan, who previously served as secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, allegedly earned the derisive nickname ‘Fish Cop’ inside the agency.
In October, the growing friction between the two camps – Noem on one side and Homan on the other – sparked a shakeup within at least eight ICE field offices.
As many as 12 senior leaders within the field offices were reportedly turfed out and replaced with Border Patrol officials, in a sign that Noem’s allies were asserting more influence within ICE.
Noem is instead advocating for a broader and more aggressive approach to boost the number of reportable deportations each day. But this approach has also led to pushback from some moderate Republicans.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem sits atop a horse with Border Patrol agents near the Rio Grande river
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump was ‘100 percent’ satisfied with Noem’s handling of the Minneapolis crisis
According to one Republican strategist, immigration had been a ‘huge political strength of the president – get bad hombres out of the country, people wanted to see drug lords, bad people snatched up. But ‘(the electorate) doesn’t want to see people who are doing dry wall, sheet rock, gardeners, nannies, zip tied in a CVS parking lot.’
One former senior ICE official, whose son works for ICE and who maintains regular contact with officers in the field, claimed much of the rank and file has lost confidence in Noem’s leadership.
‘Morale is in the toilet right now,’ the source told the Daily Mail. ‘This is a strategy to screw with blue states. It’s all to get clips so the secretary can make cute statements.
‘Kristi Noem is the stereotype of what Trump likes to have in leadership. They look good on camera, they provide you with good sound bites and videos, but that’s about it.’
Another ICE insider said: ‘It’s a total train wreck. Lewandowski, Stephen Miller and Homan don’t get along and always fight and bicker behind the scenes. Noem doesn’t have a lot of people surrounding her who have real world experience, as far as law enforcement is concerned, and I think that’s going to be here undoing.’
As always, it is in times of crises that the reputations of politicians are forged – and for Noem, it is too early to say whether her current time in the spotlight will damage, or propel, her political career. She is making herself a deeply polarizing figure, loathed on the left as ‘Bloody Kristi’. But in MAGA world, being vilified by Democrats is a badge of honor.
As the midterms loom, however, Trump will have to weigh whether Noem’s continuing presence as the leader of the Department of Homeland Security could alienate independent voters, and whether a more measured approach is needed.
