Kristi Noem Outfits That Had People Talking For All The Wrong Reasons

Since becoming Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem has made one thing very clear: she loves to play dress up. Between the Republican vest trend we wish they'd ditch and the bland MAGA shoe trend, Trump's inner circle has proven they're not exactly the most stylish group to roam the halls of the White House. However, Noem has set herself apart. It turns out that Noem has a thing for cosplay and it's something that many have called her out on, and deservedly so.

While Noem and her array of outfits definitely make enjoyable fodder for late night television hosts like Jimmy Kimmel, politicians have also taken the opportunity to address her thing for dressing up. After all, they don't call her ICE Barbie for nothing. During a congressional hearing in May 2025, Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi thanked Noem for showing up by saying, "I'm glad you found time among your many photo ops and costume changes to testify about why President Trump is seeking more taxpayer dollars and what you plan to do with that money if you get it," via HuffPo. 

But despite the critics, and Thompson isn't alone, Noem went on Fox News to defend her cosplay, telling Jesse Watters that the various departments like ICE and HSI are happy that she's willing to dress up along with them. "They didn't have that with the last leadership," Noem told Watters, claiming that the last administration wasn't proud of them. In other words, we can expect the costume changes to continue for the duration of her tenure as Homeland Security Secretary.

Despite not being an official member of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), that hasn't stopped Kristi Noem from cosplaying as an ICE agent more than a few times. In April 2025, Noem posted a video on X with a caption that read, "Human traffickers. Drug Smugglers. 18th Street Gang members. Spent the morning in Phoenix with our brave @ICEgov and Arizona law enforcement arresting these dirtbags and getting them off of our streets." Although it's clear that Noem is taking herself seriously, some people took issue with the outfit choice — including MAGA. "Just stop trying to glamorize the mission and put yourself in the middle of it as you cosplay ICE agent, which you're not," Megyn Kelly said on her podcast in April 2025, per The Independent. 

Even before Kristi Noem became Homeland Security Secretary, she liked to hang around borders and show her support for the National Guard. While that's admirable, where she should be taken to task, however, is in her decision to wear a bright coral-red shirt while visiting them. As she explains in her Instagram post, this was the fifth deployment of the South Dakota National Guard to the southern border and these soldiers were apparently helping to build Trump's wall. People who are placed on the border wear military fatigues so they can easily blend into their surroundings, keeping themselves safe. But here comes Noem in a bright shirt that puts a target on all their backs.

When Kristi Noem traveled to Qal'at al-Bahrain Fort in May 2025, she was photographed on a camel taking the opportunity to, at least in the words of Really American host Steve Harness, channel Jessica Chastain in the film "Zero Dark Thirty." What's so silly about this outfit is that scarf isn't necessary for religious reasons, as Noem was spotted without it when she was off the camel, but it's worn to protect one from the sun. However, Noem was wearing a sleeveless top with her arms fully exposed, proving that the scarf wasn't about sun protection — after all, you can put sunscreen on your scalp — and more about playing a part.

When Kristi Noem showed up to Fox News for an interview with Laura Ingraham in January 2025, she was fully decked out in a Customs and Border Control uniform — a department she does not work for, so naturally, it didn't go over well with viewers. The Young Turks were among several people who took aim at the look on YouTube, with Wosney Lambre saying that Noem's choice to wear the uniform is her way of trying to prove she belongs in the position. "Obviously we don't fall for it, because she looks ridiculous," said Lambre. "She looks like you would never actually be in that job... but I think that's what she's trying to signal to folks."

In October 2024, Kristi Noem hit up The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota for what appeared to be some sort of promotional visit. Noem engaged in some trivia with Cornelius, who is presumably that very large, smiley cob of corn. Although Noem was able to answer all the trivia question correctly, there's something else about this situation that can't be ignored: the length of her jeans. In fact, her jeans are so awkwardly long that you know there's no way they're not dragging on the ground, picking up dirt, bacteria, bugs, and even dried up corn kernels that might be hanging around the outside of The Corn Palace. Noem needs to do herself a major favor and lean into the one of the most important universally flattering clothing hacks: tailoring.

Even before this photo op took place in May 2025, where Kristi Noem isn't just dressed up as a member of the US Coast Guard, but was allowed to pilot an Over the Horizon Small Boat, Mark 4, former host of Newsmax TV's "America Talks Live," John Cardillo, took the opportunity to drag Noem for her costumes. "Kristi Noem clearly doesn't understand that a cabinet secretary's job is not to cosplay," Cardillo posted on X. "The job is to be in their office, making the agency more efficient, professional, and effective. The job is to be on Capitol Hill ensuring the agency has resources to do its job."

On July 27, 2025, Kristi Noem posted this photo of herself on Instagram with the Customs and Border Control horse patrol. Although she noted in the caption that her outfit was in honor of National Cowboy Day, it wasn't the first time she had dressed up and gone for a ride along. In April 2025, Rachel Maddow pointed out Noem's photo ops and how they should be raising questions. "Here she is at the southern border on a horse because, sure, what's a cowboy hat without a horse a few feet below it," Maddow laughed as she continued to show other clips of Noem.

Of all Kristi Noem's outfits that have left people not only talking, what she wore while touring the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) in March 2025 was by far the most unforgettable (and not for the right reason). While her outfit was simple, she was still glammed up, living up to her nickname "ICE Barbie." But the most upsetting part of her ensemble that day — aside form the fact that she used prisoners as a photo backdrop — was the $50,000 gold Rolex watch on her wrist.

"This is an administration that is trying to be populist, anti-elite, appeal to the common man," human rights activist Adam Isacson told the Washington Post, via USA Today. "You're in front of all these people in a very poor country, who are in the bottom 10 or 20 percent of their country ... and it looks like you're just flaunting your wealth while you flaunt your freedom." It should be noted that those who end up in CECOT never leave and are subjected to inhumane conditions, per Human Rights Watch.

Even before she became Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem had already made it clear that she loves to dress up. But there's one costume that she wore for Halloween in 2023 that had many people understandably feeling second-hand embarrassment. Of all the things she could have dressed up as, Noem chose to be the Statue of Liberty. Considering her stance on immigration and the fact that the Statue of Liberty has long been associated with being a welcoming symbol to immigrants, that's one heck of a disconnect. Less than two years since Noem dressed up as Lady Liberty, the Dutch artist, Judith de Leeuw, painted a mural of the iconic statute covering her eyes in shame in the French town of Roubaix. It was unveiled on July 4, 2025.