Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin can't seem to escape his predecessor Kristi Noem, according to a new HuffPost report published Monday.
In an email obtained by HuffPost, Mullin demanded that U.S. Customs and Border Protection pull any lingering PSA-style videos of Noem that are still running in airport security checkpoints or any areas of entry to the United States.
"If so, please kindly remove them as soon as possible and provide confirmation of removal," Mullin wrote.
The videos were apparently still running months after President Donald Trump fired her from the job.
Noem, former South Dakota governor, was the face of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration policies and was fired on March 5. She was replaced by Mullin, a former Republican senator and Trump ally.
"Noem was not averse to cameras while running DHS, and it wouldn’t be surprising if she left behind some videos to purge," HuffPost reported. "Travelers were often greeted by PSA-style recordings of the then-secretary when moving through customs or Transportation Security Administration checkpoints."
In October 2025, Noem blamed Democrats in a TSA spot for the government shutdown and snarled airport security lines and "ethics experts said she violated the Hatch Act by issuing such a partisan message in her official capacity. Some airports refused to air the spot."
Trump's decision to cut her from the top job apparently came after her testimony before Congress in early March. She had claimed under oath that the president had approved the government-funded $200 million advertisement campaign that showed her riding a horse in a cowboy hat at Mount Rushmore and "talking tough on immigration." A Republican consulting firm with “long-standing personal and business ties to Noem” had received a “secret payday” for its work on the agency's media campaign.
