In a move that further underscores Donald Trump’s commitment to enforcing strict controls on illegal immigration, the president-elect confirmed Tuesday that he planned to appoint South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security .
Trump has already done that indicated he would tap Stephen Miller and Tom Homantwo longtime allies with a track record of pushing for mass deportations and extreme repression against immigrants, to take on senior positions as deputy chief of staff for policy and “border czar.”
Noem, 52, a Trump loyalist who has offered strong support for the Republican leader’s pledge to carry out mass deportations, will lead a massive department that oversees multiple agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration – and customs enforcement and the federal police. Emergency Management Agency. The department has more than 260,000 employees and a budget of $60 billion.
After Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris, Noem was asked how a Trump administration would carry out his plan to deport millions of immigrants who entered the country illegally.
“It’s going to be a major operation,” Noem told NewsNation. “President Trump has already indicated that he wants to start by deporting the most dangerous first: the criminals, murderers and rapists who threaten the safety of our communities. They will be the first on the list to leave. And from that point on, it is indeed a commitment, but a commitment to our national security interests.”
Noem, who Trump once considered a possible running mate, indicated that the new Republican administration would ultimately target immigrants who had not committed crimes after arriving in the US.
“Let’s all remember when they entered our country, the first thing they did was break the law,” she said.
Noem, a rancher, farmer and business owner, is currently serving her second four-year term as governor of South Dakota. In 2018, she was elected the first woman to take on the role after running on a platform to protect South Dakotans from tax increases and big government.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem faced national criticism when she refused to close businesses or impose a statewide mask mandate.
“I believe in our freedoms and freedoms,” Noem said during a Fox News interview. “What I’ve seen across the country is so many people giving up their freedoms for just a little bit of safety, and they don’t have to do that. If a leader takes too much power in times of crisis, we will lose our country.”
Noem easily won re-election in 2022, defeating her Democratic opponent by 28 percentage points.
Even before Noem became governor, she expressed support for Trump’s immigration measures.
In 2017, when Noem was a U.S. Representative for South Dakota, she expressed support for Trump’s “Muslim ban,” an executive order that temporarily suspended the U.S. refugee program and imposed a 90-day ban on immigrants from seven countries with a Muslim majority.
“My first priority is the safety and security of the American people,” Noem said in a statement. “I share the President’s concerns about our ability to screen refugees – especially those from terrorist hotbeds. I support temporarily pausing the reception of refugees from terrorist-controlled areas – at least until the government can confirm that asylum seekers cannot provide evidence. security risk to the US”
After President Biden won the White House, Noem quickly voiced his opposition to his administration’s handling of the rising number of migrants crossing the southern border.
“South Dakota will not take illegal immigrants that the Biden administration wants to relocate,” Noem wrote in 2021 on X, formerly Twitter. “My message to illegal immigrants… call me if you are American.”
In recent years, Noem has sent multiple National Guard deployments to Texas to help secure the border with Mexico. In January, Noem said her administration was considering sending additional razor wire and security personnel.
“The United States of America is in a time of invasion,” Noem said in a speech to lawmakers in South Dakota. “The invasion is coming across our southern border. The fifty states have a common enemy, and that enemy is the Mexican drug cartels. They are waging war against our nation. And these cartels are perpetuating violence in all of our states, even here in South Dakota.”
In April, Noem became embroiled in controversy when she revealed in her book “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward” that she shot and killed her 14-month-old wire-haired pointer, Cricket. . The dog was “untrainable,” she wrote, and not suitable as a hunting dog.
Noem defended her decision to kill Cricket, arguing that the dog killed chickens and attacked her.
“What the point of the story is is that most politicians will run from the truth,” Noem told Fox News. “They will shy away and hide from making difficult decisions. I don’t do either.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
