Daniel Herrera Carbajal
ICT
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem appeared Friday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is considering her nomination by President-elect Donald Trump to be Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
The senators questioned her on issues from cyber security to Federal Emergency Management Agency funding.
But the main topic of the hearing was the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We have had over 13,000 murderers that are loose in this country that have come over that border,” Noem said. “We have had over 16,000 rapists and sexual assault perpetrators that are loose in this country right now.”
Noem said the new administration will focus on immediately “rounding them up.”
“The No. 1 priority of the President is to secure the border and to deport these criminal actors,” Noem said.
Ariz. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D) said large parts of the border run through tribal lands.
“We have 22 federally recognized tribes (along the border),” he said. “They want to be collaborative partners when it comes to border security.
“As DHS secretary, what is your plan to consult with our border tribes and work together to balance both national security but also their sovereignty?”
Noem cited her work with tribes in her state of South Dakota.
“I believe my experience as governor and relationship working with our tribes is going to be a powerful tool,” she said. “I offered to train federal law enforcement officers, BIA officers, but also their tribal police at no cost to our tribes.”
In 2024, all nine Oceti Sakowin tribes in South Dakota banned Noem from their lands after she claimed drug cartels were operating on tribal lands, a belief she reiterated Friday.
“We saw increased crime and we saw increased drug activity. We saw cartels and their affiliates moving into our state and proliferate trafficking,” Noem said.
At Friday’s hearing, North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer (R) presented a letter from Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairwoman Janet Alkire that praised Noem and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of the Interior.
“On multiple occasions Gov. Noem has invited the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to her table at the South Dakota state capitol to enter into meaningful discussions,” Alkire said in the letter.
“It is with great excitement and enthusiasm that our North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum will be at the helm of the Department of the Interior and my hopes remain high that you will feel the same about Gov. Noem at the helm of the Department of Homeland Security,” she said. “These two governors understand the needs of Indian Country and what words like tribal sovereignty, jurisdiction and consultation mean to the Indigenous people.”
The 53-year-old Noem was born in Watertown, South Dakota, and served as a U.S. congresswoman from 2011 to 2018, when she won her race for governor and was re-elected four years later.
At Friday’s hearing, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters (D) said the most persistent threats to America are domestic.
“Both DHS and the FBI have consistently said the most persistent threat to the homeland is from U.S.-based individuals or small groups radicalized by a variety of ideologies from white supremacy to ISIS to Al-Qaeda,” Peters said.
“We must continue to focus on people who are radicalized here in the U.S. with the intent of terrorizing our communities.”
Noem responded, saying the No. 1 threat to national security is the southern border, which she described as a “warzone.”
Homeland Security has more than 240,000 employees and a budget of more than $100 billion, Peters said.
If confirmed, Noem would replace Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whom President Joe Biden appointed in 2021.
She would be pivotal in carrying out Trump’s plan for the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, and Noem already has deployed South Dakota National Guard troops to help secure the border on eight separate occasions.
“Two of them were federal deployments … but six other times I sent them down there under state activation to partner with Texas and other states in securing our southern border,” she said.
What’s next
Once the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee finishes its questioning of Noem, it will send her nomination to the full Senate for a vote, either with its recommendation of Noem or without it.
The Senate will then debate the nomination and vote on it, though no date for that debate has been set.
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