Washington — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the sprawling Department of Homeland Security, is fielding questions from lawmakers on Friday at her Senate confirmation hearing.
She is appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, which has jurisdiction over the DHS and those nominated to lead the department.
“As we face the evolving threats of the 21st century, the mission and the success of DHS is more critical than ever. We must be vigilant and proactive and innovative to protect the homeland,” she said in her opening statement. “The challenges in front of us are extremely significant, and we must secure our borders against illegal trafficking and immigration.”
Noem, a former Republican member of Congress who has been South Dakota’s governor since 2019, is expected to be asked about the incoming Trump administration’s sweeping immigration plans, which include a promised mass deportation operation.
While the DHS oversees airport security, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other responsibilities, it also houses the three main federal immigration agencies that will play a key role in implementing Trump’s immigration agenda: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Ben Curtis / AP
When announcing her nomination as DHS secretary soon after the election, Trump noted that Noem dispatched the South Dakota National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to help Texas state officials fortify it amid record levels of migrant crossings.
If confirmed as DHS secretary, Noem would likely play an important role in shaping the second Trump administration’s planned changes to U.S. immigration and border policy, alongside incoming border czar Tom Homan and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. Republicans control a majority in the Senate, making her confirmation likely.
Among other promises, Trump and his advisers have vowed to reverse Biden administration immigration programs, enact harsher rules at the U.S.-Mexico border, scale back refugee admissions and dramatically ramp deportations of immigrants living in the country illegally. The president-elect has also pledged to upend the longstanding principle of birthright citizenship, in a bid to prevent children born to unauthorized immigrants from becoming American citizens at birth.
Considered a Trump loyalist, Noem has been praised by conservatives for her record as governor, which includes vocally opposing mask mandates and other COVID-era measures. But she’s also garnered detractors. Tribal nations in South Dakota, for example, have banned her from their lands over comments she’s made alleging cartel activity in tribal territory.
