(The Hill) – President-elect Donald Trump has selected South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), multiple outlets reported Tuesday.
Noem was first floated as a possible running mate for Trump, but her consideration fizzled after the release of her biography, in which she described killing a dog that was “untrainable.”
Instead, the Republican governor will be tapped to lead the sprawling agency tasked with protecting the U.S from terror threats, securing the borders and enforcing U.S. immigration law. Trump has also tasked DHS with carrying out the “largest deportation operation in American history.”
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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks prior to remarks from Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally, March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean, File)
If confirmed, Noem would work closely with Stephen Miller, who Trump tapped to serve as his deputy chief of staff for policy.
He also selected Tom Homan as his border czar, an early proponent of child separation during his work under the first Trump administration who recently said that “families can be deported together.”
Noem has little national security experience, but she did send the South Dakota National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border and has been vocal on immigration issues.
“South Dakota won’t be taking any illegal immigrants that the Biden Administration wants to relocate. My message to illegal immigrants… call me when you’re an American,” Noem wrote on social platform X in 2021 shortly after President Biden took office.
She also supported Trump’s Muslim travel ban while serving as a member of Congress and also supported pausing some refugee screening.
“I share the President’s concerns about our ability to screen refugees—especially those from terrorist hotbed areas,” Noem said in 2017. “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.”
Noem was also previously floated as a possible Interior Secretary.
“I love being Governor of South Dakota, and President Trump knows that I’ll help him however I can,” Noem said at the time.
Noem was a regular with Trump on the campaign trail, including at one event that turned into a music listening session after multiple medical emergencies.
DHS contains a number of key public safety agencies. Beyond its immigration duties, it also contains the Secret Service, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
It also contains the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) which is tasked with helping companies prevent cyber attacks as well as attacks on physical infrastructure.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Brett Samuels contributed.
