DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Taken to D.C. Hospital in Ambulance

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was taken to the hospital on Tuesday, June 17, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE.

Noem, 53, was transported to a Washington, D.C. hospital. She suffered an allergic reaction and was taken to the hospital out of caution, McLaughlin said. The secretary is alert and recovering, McLaughlin confirmed.

Additionally, CNN reports that the politician is conscious and spoke with her security detail.

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Before working in the Trump administration, Noem served as the governor of South Dakota from 2019 to 2025 and represented the state’s at-large district in the U.S. House from 2011 to 2019. She was selected as DHS secretary to oversee immigration and border security, in addition to anti-terrorism efforts, cyber-security, disaster prevention and the Secret Service. She was confirmed for the role by the Senate on Jan. 25.

Noem has worked with President Donald Trump to carry out his administration’s crackdown on immigration. The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has conducted mass raids on immigrant communities, and the deportation of several U.S. citizens to prisons in South America.

Noem also oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In early June, she has said that she is working with the president to eliminate he disaster relief agency “as it exists today,” per The Hill.

“We want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state level. … We’re moving it back to the states,” Trump said on Tuesday, June 10. “We’re going to give out less money. … It’s going to be from the president’s office.”