Trump's USA

ICE efforts
New Minister: Former MMA fighter close to Trump

Former MMA fighter and Oklahoma senator Markwayne Mullin will become the new Secretary of Homeland Security in the United States after Donald Trump fired the criticized Kristi Noem. Several American media outlets are highlighting his background as a martial artist in their portraits of the new minister.

USA Today also points out that as a Cherokee, he will be the only minister from the indigenous people of the United States in the government.

He is further described as a conservative Republican close to Donald Trump and has previously repeated Trump's incorrect claims that election fraud was behind Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election.

The New York Times writes that he has also stubbornly defended Trump's immigration policy with its mass deportations, an issue he will be able to pursue in his new role as minister. He has also defended the federal agents who shot and killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, calling them "patriots".

ICE operations
Analysis: Noem learned that loyalty is not enough

Kristi Noem thought that unbreakable loyalty to President Trump would protect her but eventually realized that everyone is replaceable. This is what The Guardian's David Smith writes in an analysis after Noem was fired as Secretary of Homeland Security.

"As the public face of immigration policy, often placed in the middle of the action, she managed to turn Trump's profile issue into a political burden," Smith writes.

The disastrous performance in Congress this week finally made Trump put his foot down, he notes.

Australia's ABC's Rachel Clayton writes that Noem is so far the only high-ranking person to be fired during Trump's second term, even though a number of others have also received harsh criticism. She mentions, among others, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trade Minister Howard Lutnick and Defense Minister Pete Hegseth.

"The question is whether Noem is the first in line or an exception," she writes.