Inside Kristi Noem's bitter feud with Trump's border czar

• Noem's backers blamed the whisper campaign on supporters of her administration rival, border czar Tom Homan.
• Homan's partisans deny any involvement.

Reality check: Neither Noem nor Homan are going anywhere, according to administration officials inside and outside the White House. Trump has shown no signs of wanting a change.

• "Kristi's doing a great job," Trump, unprompted, recently told an adviser who relayed the conversation to Axios.
• "Her and Tom don't get along," the president chuckled, the source said. "But they're doing great."
• The adviser said Trump doesn't mind the conflict: "Trump is like that. He kind of likes people competing against each other. He thinks it makes the product better."

Zoom in: The exact cause of the tensions between Noem and Homan isn't clear, but sources say the conflict — months in the making — is a personality clash at the very least.

• Supporters of both officials accuse the other of contracting irregularities, which each side denies. Noem's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has more than $170 billion from Congress to spend on catching, detaining and deporting what the White House hopes will be millions of unauthorized immigrants.
• Noem, a former South Dakota governor, has spent millions of department dollars on a controversial campaign-style ad blitz that some insiders believe promotes her as much as the department's mission.
• That rankles career immigration officials, many of whom are loyal to Homan, a 30-year immigration-enforcement vet.
• Insiders have personally complained to Trump about Noem's management and the role of her top adviser, Trump campaign veteran Corey Lewandowski, who in effect runs DHS, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Homan's appearances on Fox News have led Noem's supporters to cast him as a self-promoter without portfolio.

• Two DHS sources said Homan's media hits aren't coordinated with the department's press office and that he sometimes makes policy proclamations that catch officials off guard, irritating Noem's senior staff.
• "Tom expected to have more operational control of day to day, and especially on contracts," one agency official said.
• "It's disappointing that he chooses to go after Secretary Noem when he is unhappy that he does not have 'The Tom Homan Show' to be a part of."

Homan also has been dogged by allegations of misconduct and conflicts of interest. An MS NOW report in September rapped him for being under FBI investigation in 2024 for allegedly taking a $50,000 cash payoff in a now-closed bribery probe.

The intrigue: When he began working for the administration, Homan filed his personal financial disclosure form with DHS and worked some days out of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in D.C.

• But by the summer he'd shifted, at least on paper, to be a White House employee, according to public records. A White House official said the move was not related to tensions with Noem and was planned all along.
• One source close to the White House said that "Tom's putting his head down. He's like, 'You know, this isn't worth it. I'm going to go do my job that the president has authorized me to do.' And that's what he's doing."

The big picture: For months, Washington's chattering class has been predicting a shakeup in Trump's White House, partly because of the huge turnover in his first administration. But Trump advisers say he likes his team of loyalists this time and hasn't expressed interest in firing anyone.

• "He's happy with his Cabinet," said another Trump adviser who is no fan of Noem. "Do I wish Kristi was gone? Absolutely. But that ain't happening. At least, not that he'll tell me."

What they're saying: Despite the personality clash, record deportations and aggressive immigration enforcement proceed apace. And Trump is thrilled, even as his immigration crackdown has angered many Americans and appears to be weighing on his poll numbers.

• DHS referred requests for comment to the White House.
• "President Trump has assembled the most talented and capable Cabinet in American history, which includes Secretary Noem who is doing a great job implementing the president's agenda and making America safe again," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said.
• "The president's entire immigration enforcement team — which includes Tom Homan and his critical contributions to the border security effort ... is working in lockstep to implement the agenda President Trump was elected to enact."