Trump’s pick to replace Noem—Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a co-sponsor of the SAVE Act with extremist views on abortion and a troubling record on violence against women—signals more of the same.
As frontline witnesses to the worst of humanity, physicians carry the heavy burden of moral distress—the anguish of seeing harm unfold and feeling powerless to stop it. This feeling has only grown with the rise of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in its current form. Its inhumanity under former DHS Security Kristi Noem’s leadership—reflected in the anxieties of our patients, many of whom are avoiding essential medical care out of fear—has us despairing with helplessness, while cruelty grows seemingly unchecked under an administration that considers empathy “toxic” and education “woke” or “anti-American.”
The administration is actively attacking academic freedom, public health and the ethical pillars underpinning our field, with measurable consequences for people in the U.S. This regime of proud ignorance, moral bankruptcy, poor emotional regulation and reactive, excessive aggression stands anathema to virtually everything fundamental to medicine.
So, yes, many of us were excited to see Noem go.
“Kristi Noem got fired from DHS!” the fellow working with me exclaimed in one rushed breath while our supervising attending physician glared beadily at the interruption of his thoughts. “It’s breaking news!” the fellow protested, laughing at his annoyance. Other medical colleagues texted me in rapid succession with a giddiness we haven’t collectively experienced in weeks: “Kristi Noem got fired lolllll,” “What did she expect?” “Justice at last! Maybe someone mature and decent will take over.”
Neither spite nor hatred underscored the excitement; it was the hope of accountability, seemingly so elusive, that elated us.
From alleged financial corruption, to justifying the killings of American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, to self-reported puppy murder (goodness, she’s been busy), Noem hasn’t endeared herself even to members of her own party.
Sen. Thom Tillis’ (R-N.C.) castigation of Noem’s incompetence recently went viral. Furious, he noted the discrepancy between the Trump administration’s protection of the Jan. 6 rioters and its mass deportations, where the majority of those entering deportation proceedings have no criminal records: “Quality matters, not quantity. And what we’ve seen is a disaster under your leadership, Ms. Noem.”
Even with Noem gone, the issue of ICE’s cruel excesses under shockingly lax recruitment standards remains unresolved. Example after example reveals the ignorant thuggery that now seems to be the hallmark of ICE: Videos from legal observers and evidence in federal proceedings show agents acting with indiscriminate, even boastful violence—read the text messages in which an agent brags about shooting a U.S. citizen five times, leaving seven bullet holes, and is praised afterward by Greg Bovino. Watch agents laugh about shooting U.S. citizens, saying their $30,000 bonus makes the loss of life worth it.
The videos show those recorded to be volatile under pressure and easily agitated, rapidly escalating tensions with the community into explosive violence—not exactly the type you want guarding your country, or carrying firearms.
ICE’s treatment of women in particular has ranged from alarming to frankly depraved, with substantive reports of sexual assault of detainees by staff members and weak investigative processes, and a new concern that ICE is sending pregnant minors to a facility in Texas allegedly to avoid providing abortions. Some of the girls are as young as 13.
ICE’s contempt for women’s lives is clearly reflected in reports about the agents’ behavior in the immediate aftermath of Renee Good’s death, describing her as a “lesbian bitch” while intimidating female protesters with implied threats of homicide. Running amok with brute force and the belief that they have a God-given right to threaten or enact violence against insufficiently docile women—and enjoying federal support beyond Noem, like Vice President JD Vance’s grandiose promise of “absolute immunity”—ICE remains dangerous to our communities, and to women in particular.
Even with Noem gone, the issue of ICE’s cruel excesses under shockingly lax recruitment standards remains unresolved.
The hope that swelled with Noem’s ousting vanished quickly with news of President Trump tapping Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) as her replacement, a former MMA fighter and co-sponsor of the SAVE America Act, which disproportionately targets women’s voting eligibility. Mullin holds extremist views on abortion, opposing even exceptions to save the mother’s life.
Mullin is not a promising choice as Secretary of Homeland Security if DHS wants to rebrand its image to women, amongst whom ICE is consummately unpopular: Half of U.S. women support ICE’S abolishment.
Deeply disturbing is Mullin’s 2013 vote against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. Mullin explained his rationale to his rightfully infuriated community, the Cherokee Nation:
“The language regarding ‘sexual orientation’ in the bill’s non-discrimination provisions was unacceptable to me, and in my opinion had no place in a bill whose primary intent was to deal with protecting women from domestic violence.”
Ah, yes, thank you, Sen. Mullin. That clarifies things for me, a physician who has endured domestic violence and now works with the female survivor population clinically. The obvious choice is to deprive the entire population of recourse for the worst traumas they might experience, all in the name of bigotry against the LGBTQ+ community, disproportionately at risk for intimate partner violence and urgently needing these resources. You’d rather imperil women broadly than concede on nondiscrimination language. I see you.
ICE needs a fundamental cultural shakeup, not a performative personnel exchange that promises no substantive improvement for our country’s safety.
The core issue with ICE is not one of people, but principles: a callous disregard for the sanctity of life and a pervasive belief that some lives—namely, white heterosexual males or appropriately submissive white females—are more valuable than others. The racism and misogyny built into this system are clearly reflected in both DHS’ ad campaign that repackages white supremacy as noble patriotic duty, and in the agents’ gross misconduct against both undocumented immigrants and American citizens. ICE needs a fundamental cultural shakeup, not a performative personnel exchange that promises no substantive improvement for our country’s safety.
Today’s Republicans would do well to cultivate amongst themselves the ideals of traditional conservatism if they hope to win the trust of American women: self-restraint, integrity, defense of the vulnerable and self-improvement. They do not appear to be moving in that direction with Trump’s latest administrative pick. The fish rots from the head, and instead of replacing the fish, we appear to be preparing to exchange one rotten head for another.
While Noem’s firing is a step in the right direction, appointing a manosphere-adjacent fitness bro whose rhetoric of “protection” echoes the same ideology predicated on women’s forced subjugation—and whose political track record shows a distinct disdain for women’s lives—as her replacement is absolutely not the move.
The views expressed above reflect only those of the author, and not any institution with which she is affiliated.
