Customs and Border Patrol officials wasted no time removing ICE Barbie’s framed glamour shots from their office walls in Washington after she was fired this month, a new report claims.
More than 10 photos of Noem posing in the field in full cosplay garb—hung on the walls at CBP headquarters—were removed in the days after Noem, 54, was axed by President Donald Trump, sources tell the Washington Examiner.
While Noem learned she was being sidelined on March 5, she still served as secretary until March 24, making the removal of her photos about two weeks early all the more humiliating.
The photos, all featuring Noem, apparently rankled some in DHS, especially since they reportedly replaced framed images of everyday federal agents in the department.
“Every single picture had a picture of Noem, and it was such a turn off,” an anonymous official told the Examiner, a conservative outlet. “People were snickering about it, like, ‘Did you see the upgrade?’ No leader that I know would have allowed that to happen.”
The official continued, “If they walked in and saw their photo in every picture, they would say, ‘What were you thinking?’”
The photos on display were the same types of images—captured in what resembled professional photo shoots—that earned Noem the nickname “ICE Barbie” from the Daily Beast, according to the Examiner’s sources.
The news magazine wrote, “The framed pictures included one of Noem standing between Border Patrol agents with a hand on each of their shoulders, looking into the distance as she boards a CBP helicopter while sporting oversized sunglasses; one of herself flying an airplane; and one of herself riding an all-terrain vehicle while wearing pearl earrings and a pearl necklace with a bulletproof vest.”
A photo of a hallway obtained by the Examiner showed framed photos of Noem riding an ATV at the southern border and wearing a bulletproof vest in a conference room with agents.
Another image shows Noem, in focus, sitting in a helicopter surrounded by federal law enforcement, who are out of focus.
The Examiner wrote that some in DHS speculated that Noem’s alleged lover and top DHS aide, Corey Lewandowski, may have been behind putting the photos up, but there was no confirmation of such in the report.
