Kristi Noem said Sunday that the United States is looking for a new leader in Venezuela who will serve as a reliable partner in stopping drug trafficking and preventing terrorists from reaching American soil, as the Trump administration intensifies pressure following the capture of longtime strongman Nicolás Maduro.

“We want a leader in Venezuela who will be a partner that understands that we’re going to protect America,” Noem said during an interview on Fox News Sunday. She framed Venezuela’s political upheaval as a national security issue, tied directly to drugs, migration, and transnational crime.

Noem also addressed the fate of Venezuelan nationals living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status, signaling that their future remains part of a broader administration-wide review rather than a carve-out by the Department of Homeland Security.

“Venezuela today is more free than it was yesterday,” Noem said, adding that “every individual that was under TPS has the opportunity to apply for refugee status.” She stressed that the administration intends to strictly enforce immigration law. “We need to make sure that our programs actually mean something, and that we’re following the law.”

Four months ago, Noem terminated the 2021 Biden-era designation granting TPS to Venezuelans, a move that stripped legal status and work authorization from more than 250,000 people. That decision followed an earlier order that had already removed TPS protections from roughly 350,000 Venezuelans. DHS officials argued the designation had become “contrary to the U.S. national interest.”

Florida, home to more than half of Venezuelan TPS holders, has become the epicenter of the fallout. Thousands of Venezuelans there are now fighting in court to remain in the country as their work permits expire under the Trump administration.

On Saturday, Elaine Higgins, a Democrat, urged the administration to reverse course, calling the revocation of TPS “reckless, dangerous, and wrong.”

“The instability unfolding in Venezuela today makes it even clearer that the country remains unsafe for people to return,” Higgins said. “No one should be forced back into chaos and uncertainty.”

DHS has defended the move, saying Venezuela has played a “substantial role in driving irregular migration” to the United States, directly undermining Trump’s immigration policies.

Noem’s remarks also carried an unmistakable warning for Venezuela’s interim leadership. She said President Donald Trump had delivered a blunt message to Delcy Rodríguez, who was named interim president by Venezuelan authorities after Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces on Saturday.

“It was very matter-of-fact and very clear,” Noem said. “You can lead or you can get out of the way, because we’re not going to allow you to continue to subvert American influence and our need to have a free country like Venezuela to work with, rather than to have dictators in place who perpetuate crimes and drug trafficking.”