ICE Barbie Reportedly Fumes Over Embarrassing Policy Delays • Franknez.com

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, aka “ICE Barbie”, already under fire for upending her department’s operations, reportedly lost her cool in a screaming match with officials, unleashing a barrage of f-bombs after a string of news stories exposed the fallout from her tight-fisted spending rules.

The blowup, detailed in a fresh New York Magazine exposé, paints a picture of a top Trump appointee scrambling to deflect blame amid mounting chaos at agencies like FEMA and ICE.

It all boiled over after reports highlighted how Noem’s June directive—requiring her personal sign-off on any payment over $100,000, down from the previous $25 million threshold—had ground DHS workflows to a halt.

The bottleneck hit hard and fast: In July, Noem sat on approval for critical aid to Texas flood victims for four full days, stalling the deployment of Urban Search and Rescue teams and leaving thousands of desperate calls to FEMA unanswered because the agency hadn’t renewed contracts for hundreds of call center staff.

The ripple effects didn’t stop there.

Policy Setbacks & Frustration

The Transportation Security Administration let a key contract for airport-screening gear expire, while deals for immigration-enforcement reports and polygraph tests for law enforcement hires also lapsed.

Frontline workers were left hanging, and the bad press piled up, forcing Noem to confront the mess head-on.

According to New York Magazine, Noem and her de facto chief of staff, Corey Lewandowski—the longtime Trump fixer now deeply embedded in DHS contract dealings—dialed up department officials for a post-story tongue-lashing.

One DHS employee who was on the call didn’t hold back: “They were screaming,” the source recounted.

“The level of disrespect and screaming at everybody in that room — I think people were really shocked and taken aback.”

A former DHS staffer painted an even rawer scene, saying Noem and Lewandowski fed off each other’s fury, clearly stung by the coverage.

Noem reportedly dropped “multiple F-bombs,” the insider revealed, while the pair accused the officials of “lining their pockets” from government contracts—a charge that struck listeners as pure projection, given Lewandowski’s outsized role in steering those very deals.

Lewandowski, who joined as an unpaid Special Government Employee with a limited-term gig, has become the department’s shadow power broker.

A lobbyist with DHS ties summed it up bluntly: “Everything has to go through Corey.”

The insider added, “It’s all based on ‘You’re my buddy, or you’re not my buddy. You hired my friend, or you didn’t hire my friend.’

That place just runs that way.”

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No Responds for Comment

Noem’s team hasn’t disputed the account, and neither the secretary’s office nor Lewandowski responded to requests for comment from New York Magazine or The Daily Beast.

But the episode fits a pattern for the South Dakota governor-turned-DHS head, who’s leaned hard into Trump’s “drain the swamp” ethos—only to bog down her own agencies in the muck.

For critics, it’s a stark reminder of the human cost when political theater collides with real-world crises.

Texas flood survivors, airport travelers, and aspiring DHS hires are paying the price for what looks like a power play gone sideways.

As Noem digs in, the question lingers: Is this tough-love reform, or just more Washington infighting dressed up as oversight?

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