UNITED STATES President Donald Trump sacked his far-right Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday.

Ms Noem is the first Cabinet secretary to be kicked out during President Trump’s second term.

The sacking came after mounting criticism over her leadership of the department, including the handling of the administration’s brutal immigration crackdown and disaster response.

President Trump, who said he would nominate another far-right supporter, Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, in her place, made the announcement on social media after Ms Noem faced a two-day grilling on Capitol Hill this week.

During the hearing, she was blasted over a $220 million (around £165m) advertising campaign featuring Ms Noem that encouraged people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily.

Ms Noem told lawmakers that President Trump was aware of the campaign in advance, but the president insisted in a later interview that he did not sign off on the campaign.

Secretary Noem has also been slammed over her conduct in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of two protesters in Minneapolis earlier this year, where she labelled the victims, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, as domestic terrorists.

Ms Good, a mother of three, was shot and killed by a federal immigration officer on January 7. Mr Pretti, a nurse, was shot by federal officers while filming enforcement operations. Both caused widespread protests calling for the end of the crackdown and the removal of Ms Noem.

As he sacked Ms Noem, President Trump said she “has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!).” 

He said he was making her a “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” an undefined new security initiative that he said would focus on the western hemisphere.

In a social media post, Ms Noem thanked President Trump for the new appointment and claimed, without evidence, that she had achieved “historic accomplishments” at the Department of Homeland Security.