Trump officially nominates SD Gov. Kristi Noem to lead Department of Homeland Security
President-elect Donald Trump has officially chosen South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Noem will serve as DHS secretary and oversee several federal organizations responsible for immigration to the U.S., including the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Other agencies in her domain will include the Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Secret Service.
Trump confirmed the selection Tuesday evening in a statement shared by spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt and posted on his Truth Social account.
The announcement came after CNN first reported on the development early Tuesday. The news outlet cited two anonymous sources "familiar with the selection." Several other media outlets have also reported on the selection.
Noem Cabinet nomination will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before she can assume office.
However, Trump has demanded the next Senate GOP leader allow him to make recess appointments, an impending succession race of which U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, is a leading candidate
This would allow the president-elect to fast track the confirmation process and prevent the Senate from unexpectedly denying Noem the job.
Trump also announced Sunday that Tom Homan, who headed aggressive immigration enforcement efforts as director of ICE during the president-elect's last administration, will serve in a "border czar" role.
Trump stated Noem "work closely" with Homan to secure the U.S. southern border to Mexico.
"I have known Kristi for years, and have worked with her on a wide variety of projects," Trump wrote. "She will be a great part of our mission to Make America Safe Again."
Stephen Miller, another immigration hardliner, was also tapped as his deputy chief of policy.
Noem, as expected, accepted the nod from Trump. The South Dakota governor wrote in a statement included in Trump's announcement that she is "honored and humbled" to have been selected for the Cabinet position. She also reiterated the president-elect's border stance, indicating the Trump administration will "make America safe again."
Noem's selection to the Cabinet post was welcomed by U.S. Congressman Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, who congratulated Noem through his campaign account midday Tuesday before the official announcement.
"I'm confident Kristi will secure the southern border and keep America safe," Johnson added on his congressional X account.
Noem, a longtime Trump loyalist, has been a staunch critic of immigration policy under the Biden-Harris administration. She often refers to the U.S.-Mexico border as a "war zone" and under "invasion" by migrants, and she has used the border situation as a reason to deploy South Dakota National Guard troops to Texas several times over the years at the cost of state funds.
Noem's border comments have also turned upon South Dakota's Native American communities. On Jan. 31, the second-term governor told South Dakota lawmakers that Mexican drug cartels were using Indian reservations in the state to "facilitate the spread of drugs throughout the Midwest."
Noem also suggested without evidence tribal leaders were "personally benefiting" from the cartels during a March town hall event in Winner. She later called on the tribes to "banish the cartels" in an April state press release.
All nine of South Dakota's Native American tribes formally endorsed the banishment of Noem from their lands after those comments, as well as statements she made regarding Native children during a similar town hall in Mitchell.
Noem's relationship with Trump shifted for a time after she endured international criticism following media reports over the spring on her latest memoir, in which she recounted personally killing a 14-month-old hunting dog and a goat she owned after a pheasant hunt in the 2000s.
She was once considered to be a contender for Trump's vice presidential pick, which eventually went to Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
South Dakota Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden will likely take over as the state's governor if Noem is formally confirmed.
Rhoden would be the third lieutenant governor to do so during an ongoing term. He is preceded by former state Sen. Harvey Wollman, who succeeded former Democratic Gov. Dick Kneip after he resigned in July 1978 to serve President Jimmy Carter as the U.S. ambassador to Singapore.
Walter Dale Miller became the second lieutenant governor to ascend to the governorship after the death of former Republican Gov. George Mickelson, who died along with several other officials, local executives and state pilots in a plane crash near Dubuque, Iowa on April 19, 1993.