DORAL, Florida — Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is making her debut as the president's special envoy for the Shield of the Americas — a brand new position that President Donald Trump moved her into after demoting her last week.
Noem will serve as the administration's liaison to the coalition of likeminded Latin American nations that the Trump administration says it created to combat narcotrafficking and solidify U.S. primacy in the Western Hemisphere.
Trump officially launched the coalition, which includes countries such as El Salvador and Panama, on March 7 at an invite-only summit at his Doral golf club near Miami. Leaders of participating nations, including El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele, are attending the all-day gathering that's being led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a former Florida senator and prominent Cuban American who's fluent in Spanish.
Rubio has quickly amassed power inside the second Trump administration, serving in dual roles as Trump's national security adviser and chief diplomat, as the positions of other early advisers like Noem have been diminished.
Trump said in a March 5 social media post that he was tapping Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Rubio widely viewed as architect of Trump strategy
He ousted his first national security adviser Michael Waltz, the current United Nations ambassador, and replaced him with Rubio last May. The temporary arrangement that came with a White House office has effectively become permanent. Rubio is widely seen as the architect of Trump's strategy for engaging with the Western Hemisphere and played a leading role in the administration's ouster and arrest of the president of Venezuela.
As a special envoy, an ambassador-like position, Noem ranks below him.
The special envoy role nominally puts the former Cabinet secretary over the Shield of Americas, but Trump indicated at the group's Doral launch that it would operate under Rubio's supervision.
"I want to thank Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his leadership in organizing this really important stuff. He's fantastic," Trump said in the March 7 remarks, in which he acknowledged Noem's attendance at the summit.
Noem was seated in the front row at the event between Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Republican who represents Ohio and was born in Colombia, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. She did not respond to repeated questions from reporters afterward about what the role entails and how long she plans to fill it.
Trump delivered remarks at the start summit before he left Florida to attend a dignified remains transfer of American soldiers killed in the fighting with Iran.
Trump: 'The cartels are running Mexico'
In the speech he told leaders that the "epicenter" of cartel violence was Mexico, whose President Claudia Sheinbaum was not present. Mexico recently carried out a military operation that killed notorious drug boss Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," and briefly threw the country into unrest.
"We have to eradicate them. We have to knock the hell out of them. Because the gang lords, they're taking over their country. The cartels are running Mexico. We can't have that. Too close to us. Too close to you," Trump said on March 7 of the cartels.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro was also absent from the summit. He met with Trump separately at the White House on Feb. 3. Trump has previously threatened to make Colombia, the world's largest producer of cocaine, a target for military action over drug trafficking.
Attending the Miami-area summit were the leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, according to the White House's list.
Rubio apologized for Trump's absence from the second half of the summit during a luncheon he hosted in the president's stead with Noem at his side.
"He knew you'd understand. He's very excited about this initiative," Rubio said. "I'm personally very excited to be part of this with each of you today. It's a top priority for us."
Rubio says Noem will be 'very involved' in coalition
Noem's appointment is evidence of that commitment, Rubio added. "You will see a lot of her. She'll be very involved with each of you at a personal level."
In picking Noem to act as the security initiative's special envoy, Trump gave the embattled former congresswoman who left her job as South Dakota's governor to join his administration a soft landing spot.
He told NBC in an interview that Noem, who came under fire for her spending at DHS and her handling of clashes in Minnesota between protesters and federal officers that resulted in the deaths of two Americans, was a fine person who'd done a good job.
But Trump said he was surprised to learn that she spent $220 million on an ad campaign, which she prominently featured in, that encouraged migrants without legal authority to be in the country to leave. The spending came under scrutiny from Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana during Noem's testimony before a congressional panel.
“I wasn’t thrilled with it. I spent less money than that to become president. I didn’t know about it,” Trump said.
Noem thanked Trump for the special envoy appointment in a March 5 social media post and again at the luncheon with Rubio, where she said the coalition would serve as a "powerful example to the rest world" of what a security and economic alliance can look like.
America was in crisis prior to Trump's election, Noem said, but it has since regained control of its borders.
"That is something that we recognize, that now that America is secure, and our borders are secure, that we want to focus on our neighbors," Noem said.
