Balgarianovinite.com
Olivier Douliery/Abaca/Sipa USA(Sipa via AP Images)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem diverted a Coast Guard aircraft from an active search and rescue mission to transport detained migrants, according to a new report.
The incident occurred when a twenty-three-year-old Coast Guard official went overboard in February of last year, NBC News reported, shortly after Noem was confirmed as DHS secretary. Coast Guard resources, including multiple aircraft, were sent to search the Pacific Ocean where the guardsman had disappeared.
One such aircraft was a Coast Guard C-130 that had previously been set to transport detained migrants from California to Texas, two U.S. officials and a Coast Guard official told NBC. Noem told the acting commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Kevin Lunday, to pull the plane from the search and rescue mid-flight so as not to miss the transport.
Lunday communicated Noem’s verbal instruction to the National Command Center, which diverted the plane to San Diego to complete its part in DHS’s Alien Expulsion Operation. Coast Guard command in San Diego ultimately found two available aircraft to transport the migrants to Texas, allowing the C-130 to return to the search and rescue mission after about an hour.
A DHS spokesperson told NBC that “the C-130 never left the search” for the Coast Guard member, who was never found, and that there is no documentation that the plane was pulled off the mission.
The sources who spoke to NBC claimed that the incident contributed to a strained relationship between Noem and the Coast Guard.
“The primary mission was search-and-rescue,” a former Coast Guard official told NBC. “And now the No. 1 stated mission of the Coast Guard is border security, that is a cultural change that the culture hasn’t quite caught up to.”
The alleged event was just one of several incidents cited by the report to depict tensions between Noem and the branch of the U.S. military she oversees.
Trump administration senior adviser Corey Lewandowski reportedly fired a Coast Guard pilot mid-flight after Noem’s heated blanket was left on another plane, before relenting when the pilot informed him that if he was relieved of duty, he would need to land the aircraft immediately.
The post Kristi Noem Diverted Plane Searching for Missing Coast Guard Official to Transport Migrants: Report first appeared on Mediaite.
Kristi Noem Diverted Plane Searching for Missing Coast Guard Official to Transport Migrants: Report 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-02-18 01:57:11 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law