Kristi Noem has earned the nickname ‘ICE Barbie’ for her hard-line approach to immigration enforcement. However, comments from a TSA agent caught on a hot mic before Noem’s Monday press conference suggested that it wasn’t just immigrants who feared her, but American workers too.
The audio captured an agent talking about Noem ahead of an event at Tampa International Airport in Florida where Noem handed over $10,000 bonus checks to a certain number of TSA employees who continued working despite the on-going Government shutdown, which delayed their pay.
The agent could be heard saying, “I used to be terrified of [her] when I started in HR, I was so scared of her. She was just really busy; she did, like, discipline stuff in HR, so being an officer, she didn’t trust me to be around any of it because she didn’t know if I had a big mouth or not.” The agent, however, did not reveal the identity of the colleague.
Hot mic catches TSA agent saying he was “terrified” of a superior and complain about “frustrating” work schedules. pic.twitter.com/QgsKF8r1kZ
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) December 8, 2025
n addition, complaints about their heavy workload were caught on the micas one could be heard saying, “Now you can no longer go to the store,” they could be heard saying. “I wish I had Sunday-Monday or Friday-Saturday [off], because having both weekend days off is great, but it’s frustrating sometimes.”
TSA is part of Noem’s Department of Homeland Security and was hit hard by the government shutdown that began in October, the longest shutdown in U.S. history TSA workers were classified as essential employees and had to keep working despite delayed or missing paychecks until the shutdown ended on November 12 and normal operations resumed.
It should be noted here that in November, a similar event was held at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. Similar to that, at Tampa International Airport also did not involve offering real checks and not all employees received it.
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Noem had previously clarified that the envelopes contained papers that stated that the bonus would be added to their next paychecks or would reach them as direct deposits. Only employees nominated by their superiors for “exemplary service” would receive the extra money.
Despite running her department tightly, there are speculations that Noem could lose her job because of her alleged affair with Corey Lewandowski. Their no-so-secret affair has drawn scrutiny for months, and according to some insiders from Trump’s administration, Noem could be shown the door soon because of that.
Lewandowski is involved with Noem both personally and professionally, which has intensified scrutiny around her. Moreover, Noem’s ways of her immigration tactics have drawn backlash by a section of the MAGA base for being too harsh and cruel. With her affair causing uproars and her politics ruffling feathers even of the people on the right, Noem is in hot waters right now.
