Kristi Noem, key to Trump's immigration agenda, faces senators in confirmation hearing
WASHINGTON − South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem may not have to answer for her dead hunting dog Cricket at her confirmation hearing Wednesday. But President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Homeland Security will likely face tough questions about how she intends to run one of the nation’s largest and most sensitive federal agencies.
If confirmed by the Senate, Noem would be at the center of Trump's effort to make good on campaign promises to shut down the border, prevent illegal immigrants from crossing from Mexico and Canada, and stop the flood of lethal fentanyl into the U.S.
As overseer of DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, Noem would play a critical role in Trump's much-touted plans to deport potentially tens of millions of people living without authorization in the U.S.
Noem, 52, is scheduled to appear at 9 a.m. Friday before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Strong Republican support for Kristi Noem
Noem has near universal support among Republicans, and will be introduced by new Senate Majority Leader John Thune, also from South Dakota, Sen. Kevin Cramer of neighboring North Dakota and Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus, according to the committee’s website.
“Securing the border and stopping the surge of illegal immigration is a top priority for Republicans, and I have no doubt Kristi is the right person for the job,” Thune tweeted after meeting with Noem about her nomination a month ago.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a prominent Democrat on the committee, said he had lots of outstanding questions for Noem after meeting with her. That includes whether she supports “the kind of Family Separation Policy that ‘horrified’ Republicans during the first Trump Administration.”
“Governor Noem declined to be fully specific on a number of issues,” Blumenthal, of Connecticut, said in a statement, “and I certainly hope to hear more during her upcoming confirmation hearing...."
Noem does not represent a border state, but has called for punishment of Democratic-led so-called “sanctuary cities” that protect undocumented immigrants from deportation. She's said Biden border policies have created an “invasion" crisis, and backed reinforcing the border wall and better screening of refugees, according to the conservative Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Cricket, Kim and other controversies
A staunch Trump loyalist, Noem made headlines last year for writing in her 2024 autobiography "No Going Back" that she shot her 14-month-old wirehaired pointer because it was "untrainable," attacked livestock and tried to bite her.
She quickly received bipartisan backlash and the hashtag #PuppyKiller became a rallying cry on the social media platform X. Some critics – and even supporters like Donald Trump Jr. – suggested it hurt Noem’s chances of being named Trump’s running mate.
Noem defended her actions, and said she was protecting her children − and that the dog incident showed she was capable of making “difficult decisions.”
That wasn’t the only controversy.
Noem's office had to walk back several inaccuracies in the book, including a false anecdote – intended to boost her foreign policy bona fides – that she had met reclusive North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un while serving in Congress.
Critics also torched Noem for deploying the state National Guard to the southern border to crack down on illegal immigrants entering the country at the expense of South Dakotans reeling from devastating flooding last summer.
“Gov Kristi Noem sent troops to Texas and billed us, South Dakota taxpayers. BUT Noem said it’s too expensive to use our guard to help our taxpayers fight the flood,” Lee Schoenbeck, the outoging state Senate President Pro Tem, wrote June 26 on X. “Explain this hypocrisy???”
Schoenbeck had no comment Monday about whether he thinks Noem is qualified to run DHS, telling Paste BN, “I'm leaving that to important people in Washington to make that decision.”
Last summer, all nine South Dakota tribes officially endorsed Noem’s banishment from their lands after she made disparaging remarks against Native American parents, saying their children "have no hope," the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, part of the Paste BN Network, reported.
Tribal leaders were also upset that Noem “continually pushed claims that Mexican drug cartels have a ‘presence’ on South Dakota Indian reservations,” the Argus Leader reported.
From ranch to the capitol in Pierre to Washington
Raised on a South Dakota ranch and farm, Noem entered politics by serving in the state House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 before entering Congress that year. She was elected the state’s first female governor in 2018, was reelected in 2022 and supported Trump throughout his criminal indictments and on the campaign trail last year.
Noem became a national figure for saying in November 2020 that she would refuse to enforce a coronavirus lockdown or mask mandate if President Joe Biden called for it. She also flip-flopped on whether she would sign a bill preventing transgender girls and women from playing in girl’s and women’s sporting events.
And she was one of Trump’s most ardent backers of more hardline immigration policies.
When announcing his choice for Homeland Security secretary on Nov. 12, Trump praised Noem for her deployment of the state Guard to the southwest border. He said she would work closely with his newly appointed "border czar," Tom Homan, to secure a border with Mexico that Trump says is allowing dangerous criminals and drugs into the U.S.
A sprawling – and complex − bureaucracy
With more than 250,000 employees, DHS oversees a vast and varied array of agencies, including Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It also includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Transportation Security Administration, the Secret Service and the Coast Guard.
Elaine Duke, the former acting Homeland Security secretary who helped lead DHS under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, said she is not familiar enough with Noem’s experience to say whether she’s qualified to run such a complex bureaucracy.
But Duke told Paste BN that Noem may be able to bring the same management skills required of a governor to the job that a previous DHS secretary, Janet Napolitano, did in the Obama administration after serving as governor of Arizona.
“Of course, that was a different state and a different person,” Duke said of Napolitano. “But she came in thinking about the budget and wanting to understand a mission set that goes well beyond immigration and includes the Coast Guard, which is the fifth military service, through FEMA and TSA and cyber security and critical infrastructure.”
If confirmed, “I would hope that Kristi Noem would use her experience as a governor in a similar way,” Duke said. “It is important That the DHS Secretary has strong operational and leadership experience and comes prepared to run the complex bureaucracy that's DHS.”