An excerpt of Undue Process: The Inside Story of Trump’s Mass Deportation Program, a forthcoming book by Julia Ainsley of NBC and detailed in The Atlantic, describes how Trump saw Kristi Noem’s killing a dog as a reason to select her to run his mass deportation agenda.
Noem described the killing of her puppy Cricket in a 2024 memoir as a story of being a “responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor.” She also noted that she killed a goat on the same day, and had previously put down three horses. “We love animals,” she said.
While the story of the puppy killing generated enough public distaste for Trump to scratch her off his running mate list, it apparently earned her a top spot in DHS as the boss of the mass deportation effort, which has killed at least three U.S. citizens in its wake.
Julia Ainsley’s book is set for release in early May, but excerpts were released in an article in The Atlantic with details about the relationship between Noem and Cory Lewandowski that fuels dysfunction inside DHS.
While ICE Barbie has been reported to be focused on her own personal stardom with a penchant for photo shoots, Ainsley’s reporting for the book also focuses on the role of Cory Lewandowski within DHS, who seems to serve as gatekeeper to the DHS Secretary and enforcer within the ranks.
Soon after the inauguration, a secret meeting of White House officials gathered to address the problem — the complications of the relationship with Lewandowski, a menacing know-nothing who placed himself in a position of power under Noem.
Lewandowski was hired by Noem as a “special government employee,” but has been referring to himself as her “chief advisor” and has now accumulated an “unchecked level of power” within the department, the new book alleges.
In Ainsley’s account, Lewandowski is involved in nearly every aspect of the agency: who gets heard in meetings, what information reaches Noem’s desk, which contractors get hired, and even what kind of detention facilities are built to hold arrested migrants.
Lewandowski was particularly interested in having a say in the housing of detainees, and was the advocate behind the creation of “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida, as well as a tent compound in Guantanamo Bay.
Apparently Lewandowski is now seen as such a force within DHS that one White House official dubbed him a cockroach, one who had grown immune to insecticides.
While outwardly Noem and Lewandowski deny a romantic relationship, insiders tell Ainsley that they do not hide it.
The affair between the two, both married to others, caused tension in the White House, and according to Ainsley’s report, Stephen Miller was personally repelled by their infidelity.
But ICE Barbie’s flair for theatrics went on. One of her first performances was in New York City when she strutted out onstage in a Kevlar vest to a Trace Adkins song called “Hot Mama.”
In addition to the book report, the New Republic is reporting that the Lewandowski attempted firing of a Coast Guard pilot was not related to a blanket.
The story initially reported that Lewandowski fired and rehired a pilot who did not transfer ICE Barbie’s favorite weighted blanket to the second leg of a flight.
But three DHS insiders report that the incident centered around a mysterious bag with potentially embarrassing contents. Those insiders were not able to report on what exactly was inside the bag, but … it was apparently a bag of … something embarrassing.