Trump sacks Kristi Noem: what does it mean for ICE? – The Latest

0:00This is the Guardian. Parle-de-Français. Parle-Italiano. If you've used Babel, you would. Babel's conversation based technique teaches you useful words and phrases to get you speaking quickly about the things you actually talk about in the real world. With lessons handcrafted by the 200 language experts and voiced by real native speakers, Babel is like having a private tutor in your pocket. The face really of Trump's immigration crackdown, she earned the perhaps slightly unfair moniker ice barbie.

1:01She was saying all the right things, she was flattering the president, but then she started to generate headlines for maybe the wrong reasons. This ad really seems to have struck a bit of a nerve. She made what maybe was her fatal error. She said, Trump knew all about this ad. Trump was asked about this and he said, no, I didn't know anything about that. He started to realize that basically her made-for-TV stick wasn't kind of working quite the way it should have. Donald Trump has sacked his homeland security secretary. What does that mean for the future of ice? From the Guardian's today in focus, this is the latest with me, not she in it, Carl. Joining me today is Guardian US Live News Editor, Chris Michael. Chris, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. So, Kristi Nome, the Homeland Security Secretary for the US, has gone. She's been sacked in an announcement made by Trump on social media just moments before she was due to address this conference in Tennessee. It looked incredibly awkward. Now, I think she's the first major casualty of Trump's cabinet in this second term,

2:04very different from the first one, so like a revolving door. Let's start with the basics. What can you tell me about who Kristi Nome is and what she stands for? Well, she was the former governor of South Dakota, a very conservative politician, a very anti-abortion, a very anti-immigration, and famously admitted in a memoir to taking one of her dogs to a gravel pit and shooting it, which is unfortunately a kind of a guardian scoop, actually, so she was tipped as a potential vice presidential pick for Trump until this dog shooting story got out, right? But when Trump won, he installed her as the head of the Department of Homeland Security. So big job, the face really of Trump's immigration crackdown because under DHS is the agency ICE, immigration and customs enforcement, and that has been the sort of tip of the spear for Trump's immigration push. And she's been very much the face of ICE in some ways because she's put herself very much front

3:07and center of that campaign. But how did she actually do in the role? Well, I suppose it depends on who you ask. Certainly from Trump's perspective, I think you might have argued that the first six months or so were great. I mean, immigration is the kind of key issue that he campaigned on, red meat for his base, and he did indeed launch a massive crackdown. They more or less closed the border, stopped all refugee applications, and internally, Steven Miller, you know, was leading a lot of that sort of externally. But internally, Christie Nome took charge of the enforcement push domestically. And ICE got a huge amount of funding. Tons of new agents were hired, and there was this kind of, you know, a big push to round up people that they said were the kind of worst of the worst criminals, but they turned out were actually, you know, in most cases had no criminal record at all. But Nome owned all of this. You know, she earned the perhaps slightly unfair moniker ICE Barbie because of her habit of sort of performatively dressing up. And she's very glam. She's very glam. Yeah, she's got the, you know, makeup,

4:09she's got the sort of Mar-a-Lago phase, plastic surgery vibes. She loves wearing, you know, hats with rhinestones, let's say, magna and that kind of thing on it. And, and you know, did a few sort of photoshoots that were actually quite offensive to many people, including posing in front of a bunch of deportees in the JSL, yeah, in El Salvador, the Cicad jail, the sort of terrible draconian prison where a lot of people were deported to. So, yeah, I mean, but, you know, I think as far as Trump was concerned, all that was good. She was saying all the right things about Trump's push. She was flattering the president, like all of his cabinet members do. But then she started to generate headlines for maybe the wrong reasons. Okay. So, I mean, it is one thing shooting your dog and posing in these really grotesque photoshoots, as you said. And then she also put herself, as I understand it, in this $220 million ad campaign to advertise the department, basically. And then this week she was up in front of a congressional hearing. Chris, what happened? And why might that have been the moment

5:12that it was over for her? Well, yeah, as you said, I mean, there were lots of sort of semi-scandals, you know, there's been this rumor of a fair with her and an aide, it was sort of a Trump campaign advisor in 2016, it was her first run, Cari Lewandowski. And, but this ad really seems to have struck a bit of a nerve. It's, yeah, as you say, it's incredibly expensive, basically campaign ad for ice. That just pictures. Yes, well, exactly. That's what numbers of Congress were saying. Was this not just an ad for you? Because it shows her on a horse riding around in front of Mount Rushmore. Why do I love these wide open spaces? They remind me of why our forefathers came here. Not just for its beauty, but for the freedom only America provides. I'm Christina. And yeah, and so a lot of people are saying, look, did you not just do this to promote yourself? And she made what maybe was her fatal error. She said, well, Trump knew all about this ad. And this was a kind of clear effort to say, well, you know, it wasn't me, it was the boss, trying to maybe bloody his hands a little bit. And shortly thereafter, Trump was asked about this and he said, no,

6:17I didn't know anything about that. So quite clearly throwing no mud to the bus. That was, I think, the moment where she would have known probably that she was doomed. Trump started calling around to senators and saying, you know, should I get rid of her? Right. And ended up pulling the plug and making her the first person he fired in his new administration in the cabinet anyway. But he didn't entirely press the eject button. Like he normally would have done. Like we would have expected from him. She is somewhat still in the game. What is her new role? And why do you think that is? So her new role is to head up this association of Latin American countries that Trump is organizing called shield of the Americas. So it's this organization will probably be set up to counter terrorism and maybe drug trafficking. They're having their first meeting this weekend. So we don't really know a whole lot about it yet. But no one will be there as well as Trump. So she hasn't been pushed out of orbit completely. In part, probably because Trump really hates the idea that he might be seen to cave to media pressure about criticism.

7:20Right. So, you know, it's all the stuff that she actually did on the ground in Minneapolis and the massive blowback from the enforcement operation there where a couple of American citizens were killed. You know, I think the immigration bit of it, he really liked, but he doesn't like the optics of American citizens being killed, particularly white American citizens and know him sort of own that. Did you call them domestic terrorists? Yeah, exactly. And you know, and then the administration had to, you know, walk that back. So I think that, you know, he was he started to realize that basically her made for TV stick wasn't kind of working quite the way it should have. And so yeah, so he got rid of her, but he he doesn't want to make it look like that's why he got rid of her. Yeah. So he's keeping her in orbit. He can say, oh yeah, you know, she's great. She did a great job while also sort of, you know, showing the other people around that, you know, there is a line that you can't cross in that line is contradicting Don. Well, what can you tell me about her replacement, the Republican senator from Oklahoma, Mark Wayne Mullin, and what qualifies him for the post?

8:20Well, yeah, he's the senator from Oklahoma. He's in the house for 10 years before that. He's the youngest of seven kids. He's a he's a Cherokee heritage. His name, unusual name, Mark Wayne is apparently a combination of two of his uncles names. He's also extremely conservative, also kind of MAGA, culture warrior, you know, famously, he said that the kids of people who are deported should also be deported with them, even if they're born on American soil. I even if they're American citizens, he said, well, why would you want to separate kids from their families? But I mean, what he's proposing is is pretty horrible. So yeah, I mean, he's he's almost certainly going to pick up where no one left off. But then Chris, no one was a person who oversaw ice as you've explained. And arguably that has been a disaster for Trump's polling domestically. Do you think now that he's installed Mullin, who is I think only the second Native American to reach the cabinet as in the cabinet post? Do you think this could mark any kind of pivot in ISIS approach?

9:23I think ideologically probably no Mullin is just as conservative as Nome was. And Trump has not backed off his immigration enforcement operation domestically. It remains a kind of key part of what they want to achieve. But maybe practically you might see a bit of a calming. I mean, in Minnesota, he got rid of Greg Bavino, who was the kind of the kind of great coat with the shaved head who sort of looked a bit like a Italian fascist or worse. Got rid of him because he looked like he was sort of going a bit hard. The images of tear gas everywhere with protesters was something Trump didn't really like. And he replaced him with Tom Holman. The borders are also extremely right-wing, also very anti-immigration, but a bit calmer. And the first thing that he did really without about a week or two was withdraw ice from Minnesota, not completely, but to sort of draw down this big operation that they had there. So you might see Mullin doing something similar, kind of keeping up the rhetoric, but perhaps slightly toning down that there's sort of actions on the ground,

10:24but it remains to be seen. We'll wait and see. Chris, thank you so much for your time. Thanks, machine. That's it for today. My huge thanks again to Chris Michael. Thanks for listening to this episode of the latest. Today in focus will be back with you as usual on Monday morning, and we'll be back on Monday night. This episode was presented by me, Noshinik Bal. The producers were Stefania Olando and Nicola Alexandru. The senior producer was Ryan Ram-Gobin and the lead producer was Zoe Hitch. This is the Guardian. If you've used Babel, you would. Babel's conversation based technique teaches you useful words and phrases to get you speaking quickly about the things you actually talk about in the real world. With lessons handcrafted by the 200 language experts and voiced by real native speakers,

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