Trump Picks Kristi Noem to Serve as His Homeland Security Secretary

President-elect Donald Trump has selected South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as his next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, according to two people familiar with the selection.

“Kristi has been very strong on Border Security,” Trump said in a statement officially announcing the pick later Tuesday.

“She will work closely with ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan to secure the Border, and will guarantee that our American Homeland is secure from our adversaries,” he added.

Noem has been tapped to take over the agency as two key immigration hardliners — Stephen Miller and Tom Homan — are slated to serve in senior roles, signaling Trump is serious about his promise to crack down on his immigration pledges. With his selection of Noem, Trump is ensuring a loyalist will head an agency he prioritizes and that is key to his domestic agenda.

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Although Noem does not represent a border state, she has a long history of taking hardline positions on immigration. As a candidate for Congress in 2010, she supported an ultimately unsuccessful attempt by Senate Republicans to thwart an Obama administration lawsuit challenging an Arizona immigration law. She also has called for punishment of Democratic-led “sanctuary cities” that protected undocumented immigrants by not cooperating with federal agencies during Trump’s first term.

As governor, Noem sparred with indigenous tribes in her state, suggesting that tribal leaders were focusing more on benefiting from drug cartels than their children, comments that led to her being banned from some tribal lands. As DHS secretary, Noem would be in charge of a department that is involved in tribal issues.

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