Reports that President-elect Donald Trump will name South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as the new head of his Department of Homeland Security surprised some — she’s the governor of a northern state, taking the helm of an agency with an immediate mandate to secure the southern border.
But Noem, who served as South Dakota’s at-large Congresswoman from 2010 to 2018 before being elected as the state’s governor, has a record of supporting key border security measures while in Congress and took bold stances on immigration as governor.
The Republican was the first governor to send her state’s National Guard personnel to the southern border amid a drastic surge in illegal immigration into Texas under the Biden-Harris administration.
Noem was among the Republican governors who traveled to Texas to support Governor Greg Abbott as he defied the federal government and took control of a park along the Rio Grande that had become a major illegal alien crossing point.
She offered to personally deliver more razor wire to Abbott during his spat with the Biden-Harris administration after the administration removed wire that the Texas National Guard placed on the border to deter illegal crossings.
Noem also said that South Dakota would refuse any attempts by the Biden-Harris administration to resettle illegal aliens within the state.
“South Dakota won’t be taking any illegal immigrants that the Biden Administration wants to relocate,” Noem said in one April 2021 tweet. “My message to illegal immigrants… call me when you’re an American.”
The Republican also supported key border security measures during her time in Congress before taking office as South Dakota’s governor. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an organization that advocates for border security and a reduction in total immigration levels into the United States, gave Noem a nearly perfect score for her votes on immigration-related bills while in Congress.
Noem voted no, for example, on one 2018 amnesty proposal, helping kill a bill that would have granted amnesty to as many as 1.8 million illegal aliens and, according to Heritage Action, would have encouraged “future unlawful immigration into the United States.”
She also blasted Biden for remaking the country through immigration, making an apparent reference to the Middle Eastern migrant crisis that Europe has endured. “He’s remaking this country—We will be Europe within a year or two if we allow President Biden to continue this invasion of our country.”
She also supported Trump’s January 2017 executive order barring refugees from countries where support for terrorism was common.
“I share the President’s concerns about our ability to screen refugees—especially those from terrorist hotbed areas,” Noem explained. “I support putting a temporary pause on accepting refugees from terrorist-held areas—at least until the administration can certify that asylum-seekers do not present a safety threat to the U.S.”
Trump is yet to confirm that Noem will take the helm at the agency. It was reported this morning by the Wall Street Journal that she would be the pick.