Kristi Noem’s first Department of Homeland Security town hall, where she walked onstage to the song Hot Mama, was like something out of a South Park episode, former staffers revealed.
Dozens of current and former employees gave accounts to The New York Times about what it was like to work under Noem before she was unceremoniously dumped as Homeland Security Secretary by President Donald Trump last month. Former and current Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Border Patrol officers, policy officials, executives and federal attorneys told stories of their time at the department during the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
One of them recalled the particularly cringey moment Noem made her debut at her first department town hall, and came up to the stage against the backdrop of Trace Adkins’ country hit before she addressed staffers for the first time.
“She came out onstage to the theme song Hot Mama, spoke for maybe a few minutes and took no questions and left,” Jason Marks, a former supervisory refugee officer at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, told the newspaper. “It was something everyone was talking about in real time,” said Marks, who wasn’t in the room at the time. “It felt like a South Park moment.”
Noem was depicted in a South Park episode last year, where the creators made fun of her appearance in an episode where her Botox runs out. The former secretary said at the time the cartoon was “petty” and “lazy.”
Other former staffers lamented over Noem’s appointment and questioned her experience in accounts to The Times. “We were disappointed that someone was chosen with so little relevant experience,” said Danny Chin, a former associate counsel at the same agency as Marks. “Her claim to fame was killing a puppy, so there were a lot of morbid jokes about how she could apply that philosophy to immigrants.”
Another anonymous employee in the DHS policy office told The Times that staffers were fearful of Noem’s closest advisor, Corey Lewandowski.
“Lewandowski would take some phone calls on Noem’s behalf. It seemed like he was making decisions. There were rumors that he would troll the halls and see empty desks and check the name plates and submit them for a purge of employees,” the staffer said. “So people started leaving Post-it notes on their desks, like: In a meeting. In the restroom.”
It has long been rumored that Noem and Lewandowski have engaged in an affair. When asked at a House Judiciary Committee hearing if she ever had “sexual relations” with Lewandowski, Noem accused lawmakers of spreading “tabloid garbage.” Both have strongly denied being in a relationship.
Federal employees gave an account of what happened at an intense meeting in May, 2025, with Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, where he laid out the Trump administration’s daily arrest and deportation targets.
One unnamed former ICE senior executive told The Times that staffers “knew” they were “going to get a tongue lashing.”
When Noem was introduced to speak at the meeting, she reportedly threatened the staff. “She says to us, If I get fired in six months, I’m going to make sure you get fired in six months,” the employee said. “And I’m like: Hold on a second. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years, and you just got six months under your belt. You should get fired because you don’t know how to run the mission.”
In response to the reporting, the White House touted the Trump administration’s deportation operation in a statement to the outlet. “President Trump’s highest priority has always been the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.
Lauren Bis, DHS acting assistant secretary of public affairs, also praised federal immigration agents in response to the report, and said they were targeting “the worst of the worst including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members and terrorists,” while facing “a coordinated campaign of violence against them.”
Noem appeared to be keeping a low profile after a new scandal put her marriage of 33-years to Bryon Noem in the spotlight. Her husband’s extra-marital activities were laid bare in a series of reports by the Daily Mail, which he told The Independent were “not all true” in a brief statement last week.
After Trump fired her in March, following his displeasure at Noem’s claims that he signed off on a multi-million dollar deportation ad campaign during congressional hearings, he sidelined her to a little-known initiative at the State Department.
