Premium Only Content
Trump picks Kristi Noem for homeland security secretary
US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to serve as the next homeland security secretary, choosing a staunch ally who has little experience on the national security stage.
Noem, once seen as a possible running mate for fellow Republican Trump, is currently serving her second four-year term as governor after a landslide reelection victory in 2022. She rose to national prominence after refusing to impose a statewide mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 260,000-person U.S. Department of Homeland Security has a sprawling mission that includes border security, countering terrorist threats and cyber security.
"Kristi has been very strong on Border Security. She was the first Governor to send National Guard Soldiers to help Texas fight the Biden Border Crisis, and they were sent a total of eight times," Trump said in a statement.
He said Noem would work closely with his "border czar," Tom Homan.
Trump focused intensely on border security during his campaign to recapture the White House, sharply criticizing high levels of illegal immigration under Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump, who won decisively against Harris in last week's election, has vowed mass deportations and other immigration restrictions beginning on his first day in office.
Noem made several trips in recent years to the U.S.-Mexico border, which she called a "war zone" in January.
As governor of South Dakota, which is closer to Canada than Mexico, Noem deployed dozens of National Guard troops to assist the Republican-led state of Texas with border security in recent years, including one controversial deployment in 2021 funded by a Republican billionaire.
Noem faced widespread backlash in April when she wrote in a memoir that she had shot to death an "untrainable" dog that she "hated" on her family farm. Some Trump advisers said they believed Noem's stock fell in the former president's eyes after that, at a time when she was a vice presidential contender.
In addition to Trump's appointment on Monday of Homan, a former top immigration enforcement official, as his administration's "border czar," Trump is expected to name Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's first-term immigration agenda, as White House deputy chief of staff for policy.
(Production: Deborah Lutterbeck)
-
LIVE
Akademiks
2 hours agoDiddy Last Stance! Bail Hearing Live! Lil Durk Case update! Young Thug not getting back his SH*T?
6,000 watching -
LIVE
Flexarot
44 minutes agoGetting The Bansho Fan & Crane Level Capped! (Dragon Ball Online Galaxy)
180 watching -
1:17:57
Russell Brand
2 hours agoLara Logan EXPOSES the Media's Hidden Agendas & Power Plays – SF499
85K57 -
LIVE
checkmate7_7
6 hours ago $0.26 earnedSlammin Apex clams | !GUILDED
458 watching -
LIVE
RonjnJeremy
3 hours ago $0.25 earnedClassic Wow 20th Anniversary edition HC PT 2 Seemless...Orc to troll...Still Shaman
315 watching -
LIVE
The Charlie Kirk Show
1 hour agoMatt Gaetz Speaks + Why Dems Lose the Bathroom Battle + Shut Down The Education Cartel | 11.22.24
12,972 watching -
LIVE
The Dilley Show
1 hour agoAmerica's Mayor, AG Pam Bondi and Q&A Friday! w/Author Brenden Dilley 11/22/2024
3,834 watching -
LIVE
Grant Stinchfield
1 hour agoRepublicans are a Greater Threat To Trump's Presidency than the Democrats
797 watching -
1:00:50
The Dan Bongino Show
5 hours agoA Massive Shake Up On The Trump Transition (Ep. 2376) - 11/22/2024
702K1.36K -
32:04
Stephen Gardner
17 hours ago🔥This Has GONE TOO FAR! Putin Begs Trump to intervene to avoid WW3!!
34.5K48