ICE Barbie Kristi Noem asks fans to vote on their favorite cowboy cosplay for her official governor's portrait
The Department of Homeland Security secretary - now known to some as 'ICE Barbie' - was previously governor of South Dakota.
Having left office to take a key role in Trump's mass deportation program, Noem is entitled to an official portrait in the state house, one that she's asking followers on social media to choose.
Noem, 53, posted the three shots to Instagram multiple times, asking: 'Which one do you like for the official Governor's portrait to hang in the South Dakota State Capitol?'
The paintings are done by artist David Uhl, who Noem, on her personal account and not her official government handle, credited.
On Monday, she continued to provoke opinions by posting all three portraits to her Instagram story.
Noem has gotten the nickname 'ICE Barbie' for wearing a full face of makeup and hair extensions while on the job.
In April, it was reported her photo-ops are reportedly irritating some of her staffers who are complaining that they're getting in the way of operations.
Just days after Noem was sworn-in as Homeland Security Secretary she accompanied Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on a pre-dawn New York City raid.
'Live this AM from NYC. I'm on it,' she posted on X on January 28 at 4:43 a.m.
Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, sported an ICE baseball cap while getting in a car.
People familiar with the operation told The Journal that ICE's operation was ongoing when Noem posted about it on social media, which undercut the element of surprise.
While the New York raid went ahead, fewer arrests were made than officials hoped, sources told The Journal.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin pushed back and said the raid was nearly complete when Noem's social media post went live.
Noem kicked off her tenure at DHS by holding a town hall event where her walk-on song was Trace Atkins' Hot Mama.
Since then, photos of Noem have been hung up around the agency.
There's Noem dressed in a cowboy hat and a Border Patrol jacket riding horseback as she accompanied a unit.
Another photo shows the secretary riding an ATV.
Inside the department, The Journal found, some staffers consider Noem more of a spokesperson than a traditional agency leader.
The perception is heightened by Noem's nearly constant travel schedule, where D.C.-based staffers only see her a few hours a week.
That has 'irritated many at DHS,' The Journal reported.
Prior to The Journal's report, several conservative women were already calling out Noem for playing dress-up on the job.
Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly blasted the DHS head last week after Noem held a gun incorrectly in a photo-op with ICE officers during a Phoenix, Arizona raid.
The Megyn Kelly Show host labeled Noem an 'embarrassment' who needed to stop her 'ridiculous photo-ops.'
'Just stop trying to glamorize the mission and put yourself in the middle of it as you cosplay ICE agent, which you're not,' Kelly said Wednesday. 'I think they diminish ICE, DHS, CPB, she's not an agent. She is an administrative policy person appointed by Trump because she was very loyal to him.'
Kelly claimed that Noem 'looks like I look right now, but she's out in the field with her gun,' adding that she needs to 'stop with the glam.'
'No one wants you there. First of all, nobody ever wants the extra lady who doesn't actually belong. They just don't,' Kelly said.
Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, also flamed Noem last week.
'I don't think that it is productive to have a full face of hair and makeup and hair extensions - and I used to wear 60 pounds of hair extensions - when you're doing things like that,' McCain said on her 'Meghan McCain's Happy Hour' show.
McCain was also specifically critical of Noem pointing her gun at an ICE officer's head, during the Phoenix photo-op.
'I'm from Arizona and I've been shooting guns since I was a child... she literally could've blown that man's head off, anybody with even a cursory knowledge of gun safety knows that,' McCain said.
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