South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem heads to Capitol Hill on Friday for her affirmation listening to to guide the Department of Homeland Security — a listening to the place border safety and plans to launch an enormous deportation operation are prone to take middle stage.
Noem, nominated by President-elect Trump to guide DHS, will seem earlier than the Senate Homeland Safety Committee at 9 a.m. ET.
The governor has largely stayed out of the highlight, with extra controversial nominees drawing consideration from politicians and the media. However, if confirmed, she’s going to play an essential position within the subsequent administration, main the company concerned not solely with border safety but in addition cybersecurity, response to pure disasters and counterterrorism.
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South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem speaks earlier than former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump takes the stage throughout a Buckeye Values PAC Rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
That broad position has been highlighted in current days with wildfires engulfing Los Angeles, the place the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) performs a key position in response. FEMA’s significance was additionally on show late final 12 months through the hurricane season.
She may also be engaged within the battle for cybersecurity, together with towards threats from communist China.
Coping with pure disasters and cybersecurity are each areas the place Noem has expertise. As governor, she banned TikTok from state-owned gadgets in 2022, citing the corporate’s ties to China. Individually, Dakota State College has one of many prime cyber items within the nation, and cybersecurity is the quickest rising trade in South Dakota, an growth inspired by Noem.
Noem has in-depth expertise with the Federal Emergency Administration Company (FEMA) as a result of the state has handled flooding, together with in June when there have been record-setting floods within the state.
Noem, a former member of Congress, was elected governor of South Dakota in 2018 and received re-election in 2022.
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However it’s prone to be border security, and the promise by Trump to launch a historic deportation operation, which is able to characteristic in any contentious exchanges.
Trump, nominating Noem, had argued that she is “very sturdy” on border safety.
Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump listens as North Dakota Governor Kristi Noem speaks throughout a Buckeye Values PAC Rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
“She is going to work intently with ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan to safe the border and can assure that our American homeland is safe from our adversaries. I’ve identified Kristi for years and have labored along with her on all kinds of tasks. She will probably be an ideal a part of our mission to make America secure once more,” Trump stated in an announcement.
“With Donald Trump, we’ll safe the border and restore security to American communities in order that households will once more have the chance to pursue the American dream,” Noem stated.
Whereas Homan has been charged with main the deportation operation, Noem will probably be in command of DHS businesses, together with Customs and Border Safety (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.)
Democrats might select to quiz Noem on their objections to mass deportations, though plenty of Democrats have indicated their openness to frame safety and laws mandating ICE detention for some unlawful immigrants — after a historic border disaster through the Biden administration that solely lately subsided, and which was a prime challenge within the 2024 election.
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Noem beforehand backed a pause on accepting migrants from terrorist scorching spots. As governor, she pledged in 2021 to not take any extra migrants from the Biden administration and likewise deployed Nationwide Guard to the border in Texas.
“My message to illegal immigrants is — Name me whenever you’re an American,” she stated on Fb in 2021.
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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the brand new chairman of the Senate Homeland Safety Committee, told McClatchy that he believes there will probably be a fast affirmation of Noem, and that she’s going to doubtless have just a few Democrats voting in favor.
“I feel the bar is so low that any sort of try to decelerate the mass unlawful migration can be an enchancment,” Paul stated. “I feel they’re going to be very aggressive, not solely her however all the [Trump] administration.”
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