ICE Barbie Kristi Noem’s former top ally has been accused of seducing a female teen who was her subordinate before embarking on a controlling relationship.
Madison Sheahan, 28, was the deputy director of ICE under Noem for 11 months before quitting in January to launch a congressional campaign in Ohio.
A woman, who was 19 when she met Sheahan on the Trump 2020 presidential campaign, has revealed alarming allegations of the former ICE deputy director’s “toxic” behavior towards her during their relationship. Senior DHS staffers have also accused Sheahan of verbal abuse and targeting other females.
The woman, who has remained anonymous, said their two-year relationship was defined by control and insecurity, with Sheahan reportedly consumed by the fear that her subordinate would leave her for a man.
Their relationship began in 2020 when Sheahan, 23 at the time, was a senior official with the Ohio Republican Party and the woman was a junior staffer. She moved into Sheahan’s home after losing her student accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic and they began a secret sexual relationship, she told the Daily Mail on Thursday.
In November 2020, Sheahan briefly became the woman’s supervisor while they were engaged in an intimate relationship, three sources told the publication.
The woman says Sheahan’s allegedly “volatile” behavior ramped up when she was stationed an hour away from her older lover, who was working with senior staff in Buckhead, Georgia. When the younger woman went out in Atlanta on November 29, 2020, she sent Sheahan a photo of her outfit for the night.
She was wearing black jeans and a tight-fitting black bodysuit, which allegedly caused Sheahan grief. “She lost it on me,” the woman said. “It went from her saying, ‘Have fun, have a great night,’ to, ‘What the f---, you’re not gonna f---ing go. Are you actually f---ing serious? I’m not gonna talk to you again.’”
After the woman came back to her hotel room after the night out, she called Sheahan, who screamed, “People who do that stuff, that’s what they do. They cheat on people.”
Another anonymous source who worked with Sheahan at the time told the Daily Mail they could hear the tirade through the walls. Sheahan had the call on speaker phone.
Her former lover clarified Sheahan was not jealous of the other females she was going out with, but the men. When she told Sheahan this was the first time she had been in a same-sex relationship, she was reportedly told, “This is why I don’t like to date people who aren’t gay.”
The woman said she believed Sheahan had insecurity regarding her own sexuality and had not fully come to terms with being gay.
“I think a lot of the problems with our relationship was that she’s not comfortable in her own skin,” the ex-lover said. “It’s okay to be gay… but I don’t think that’s something she has accepted.”
The controlling aspects in the relationship also extended to the younger woman hunting for a job in Washington State in late 2021.
She said Sheahan was “not okay with that at all.” She claimed Sheahan also told her how to dress, discouraged her from smoking and that she was unable to show affection to her lover at work events.
Sheahan worked as Noem’s executive director when she was Governor of South Dakota and became ICE deputy director in March 2025.
During her tenure at ICE, a senior DHS official told the Daily Mail that Sheahan regularly targeted female staffers she viewed as “disloyal” to her.
“She’d always try to be the alpha in the room. There could never be a stronger woman. Madison was intimidated by strong women,” the official said, noting Sheahan would “always push to get women fired.”
The source said Sheahan also always acted as if she had the full backing of Noem and would verbally abuse her own staff and aides by threatening to “rip their faces off.”
The woman told the Daily Mail her relationship with Sheahan ended in 2022 after a fight over the phone. She characterized her ex-lover with three words: “Toxic, volatile, controlling.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Sheahan, her political adviser, the DHS and ICE for comment.
Sheahan declined to comment to the Daily Mail, but her political adviser, Bob Pudachik, denied that she had done anything wrong.
“As the Ohio campaign manager, I can speak with authority that no such relationship existed,” Pudachik told the publication. ”Madison was not and has never been in a relationship with a subordinate.”
Sheahan left her ICE role in January, stating she was “proud of the work we have done to protect American families.”
After launching her bid for Congress, she posted a video with the caption: “I’m Madison Sheahan. I’m a Trump conservative running for Congress to protect American jobs, American paychecks, and American values. No Excuses. Let’s get it done.”
In a statement to the Daily Beast in January, before she lost her own job, Noem gushed that “Madison Sheahan is a work horse, strong executor, and terrific leader,” and said she will be “a great defender of freedom when she goes to Congress.”
