WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has appointed South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to head the Department of Homeland Security, one of the largest government agencies that will be integral to his vow to secure the border and launch a mass deportation operation to carry out.
Here are five things you need to know about Noem:
She is a farmer’s wife
The 52-year-old was born in Watertown, South Dakota, and grew up on a farm and ranch outside the city. Her father died at the age of 49 in a grain warehouse collapse.
“When Dad passed away, it was devastating for our entire family,” she said during a 2022 interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. “He was my best friend. He was the person I admired the most, the one I cared most about what he thought of me and who planned my whole life to grow up and work with him and do business with him to do.”
She was involved in a number of family businesses before successfully running for the South Dakota House of Representatives in 2006. In 2010, she won the state House at-large seat and in 2018 she was elected the state’s first female governor. She was re-elected in 2022.
After becoming governor, Noem began working closely with Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s 2016 campaign manager. She then rose to prominence in conservative circles during the pandemic for opposing most government regulations aimed at slowing the spread of infections. Since then, she has been a regular presence in Trump’s political world and was at one point considered his running mate.
She enjoys pheasant hunting and organizes the annual Governor’s Hunt. And she is an excellent rider.
The dog story
She was vilified this year for a story she told in her book about the murder of her 14-month-old wire-haired pointer named Cricket.
Cricket was Noem’s hunting dog, but he was rambunctious. Noem took the dog hunting with older dogs in hopes of calming her down.
It didn’t work and on the way home, Noem wrote that when she stopped to talk to a family, Cricket got out of Noem’s truck and attacked and killed some of the family’s chickens. Then “the dog spun around trying to bite me,” she wrote.
“At that moment,” Noem wrote, “I realized I had to put her to sleep.” She led Cricket to a gravel pit and killed her.
Critics lambasted her as she defended Cricket’s murder as an example of her willingness to make tough choices.
She speaks harsh words about immigration
Noem has been a major supporter of Trump, including supporting his tough immigration talk.
“President Trump will first deport the most dangerous illegal aliens – the murderers, rapists and other criminals that Harris and Biden allow into the country. They don’t belong here, and we won’t let them in anymore,” Noem said in a post on X after Trump was elected.
Noem joined other Republican governors in sending troops to Texas to support Operation Lone Star in Texas, which sought to discourage migrants.
Noem’s decision drew particularly harsh criticism because she covered most of the deployment costs with a $1 million donation from a Tennessee billionaire who has often donated to Republicans.
Noem described the U.S. border with Mexico as a “war zone” as she sent troops there, saying they would be on the front lines of stopping drug smugglers and human traffickers. But Guard documents painted a more nuanced picture of their mission.
Difficult relations with tribes
The Oglala Sioux told her in 2019 that she was not welcome on the Pine Ridge Reservation after she led efforts to pass a state law targeting demonstrations like the one in neighboring North Dakota that plagued the Dakota Access oil pipeline .
“I hereby inform you that you are not welcome to visit our homelands,” Oglala Sioux President Julian Bear Runner said in a letter to Noem. He told Noem that if she ignored the directive, “we will have no choice but to banish you from the reservation.”
The governor has also clashed with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe over the fireworks displays at Mount Rushmore on the Fourth of July. The tribe has opposed the fireworks displays at a monument they see as a desecration of land forcibly stolen from them decades ago.
Daughter’s real estate appraiser license
In 2020, the South Dakota agency responsible for licensing real estate appraisers denied Noem’s daughter’s application.
Days later, Noem summoned the state employee running the agency, the woman’s immediate supervisor and the state secretary of labor to her office to meet with her daughter. Four months later, Noem’s daughter earned the certification.
South Dakota lawmakers later unanimously approved a report finding that Noem’s daughter received preferential treatment when applying for the permit.
An Associated Press report on Noem’s actions surrounding her daughter’s licensure led to the investigation. The governor has said her daughter did not receive preferential treatment.
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Associated Press reporter Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
