Climate Power and En Acción Statement on the Firing of Kristi Noem
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Washington, DC – Today, Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and nominated Senator Markwayne Mullin to replace her, following Noem’s disastrous appearance on the Hill this week, where both Democrats and Republicans focused on her corruption and failed leadership of DHS and FEMA.
In response to Noem’s firing, Climate Power President Lori Lodes and Climate Power En Acción Executive Director Antonieta Cádiz Vargas issued the following statement:
“Kristi Noem and DHS abandoned their duties to keep people safe — all on Trump’s watch and at his direction. Noem needed to go, but her removal changes nothing for the families still afraid to leave their homes or send their kids to school, or the communities impacted by extreme weather that are still waiting for assistance from their government. The work is still not done. Congress must fund FEMA, not ICE. We will keep up the pressure to hold Trump and Mullin accountable for the dangerous policies that are putting our families, friends, and neighbors at risk.”
As DHS Secretary, Noem enacted Trump’s dangerous agenda and made all of our communities less safe:
- Noem abused her power to allow ICE to terrorize our cities, kidnap children, and murder people in the streets.
- Under Noem’s failed leadership, DHS gutted our disaster response, delayed and denied critical aid, and left communities all across the country more vulnerable to extreme weather.
- Noem personally held up billions of dollars in critical disaster relief funding with her requirement for her personal approval on all FEMA expenses exceeding $100,000, creating a $17 billion bottleneck.
- Instead of supporting recovery for communities devastated by hurricanes, floods, and wildfires, Noem diverted more than $600 million from FEMA to build migrant detention centers and forcibly reassigned staff to work on deportations — all to carry out Trump’s cruel political obsession.