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Kristi Noem has been ousted from her position as homeland security secretary after intensifying calls for her resignation. Noem's tenure has been marked by allegations of corruption, deadly immigration raids and legal challenges. ProPublica reporter Justin Elliott has reported extensively on Noem's tenure, including a $200 million ad campaign that may have been the inciting incident for her firing. "This did not go through the normal competitive process," says Elliott. Instead, the ad "went to a Delaware LLC that was formed only a few days before."
President Trump has announced Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma as the new homeland security secretary. Mullin "has been known as a hard-liner," says Chris Stein, senior politics reporter for The Guardian US. Stein adds that the Trump administration will continue its aggressive immigration policies despite the change in leadership.
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The homeland security secretary, who was fired by President Trump Thursday, helped fulfill his border pledges, but also drew negative attention to his administration.
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Federal agents detained a Columbia University student early Thursday after Department of Homeland Security officers allegedly gained access to a university-owned residence by presenting a fake missing person poster of a 5-year-old. As news broke of the student, Ellie Aghayeva, and her detention, students and community members rallied en masse demanding her release and an end to immigration enforcement on campus. Due to restrictions implemented by the university in response to pro-Palestine protests, the students were unable to protest on campus proper, but instead took to nearby streets.
Aghayeva was released Thursday afternoon, shortly after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani brought up her case during a meeting with President Donald Trump to discuss housing. "For that decision to be quickly flipped is remarkable because it shows the power of opposition, but also how loose and flippant these arrests are, and how maybe unnecessary they are," says Zeteo's Prem Thakker, who has been reporting on the case.
Columbia's active response, including its legal support of Aghayeva, marked a departure from previous high-profile immigration arrests of its students. Mohsen Mahdawi, a former Columbia University student who last year was also detained by DHS, says Aghayeva's arrest in campus housing is a direct result of the university administration's abdication of its responsibility to protect its students. "Columbia University administration did not have the backbone, in fact, to file any lawsuits against the Trump administration for violating basic rights," says Mahdawi. "This is actually what the Trump administration intended to do, which is to fracture liberal institutions and turn the administrations against their students."
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