
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Division of Homeland Safety, is sworn in throughout her affirmation listening to earlier than the Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill on Jan. 17, in Washington, D.C.
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Eric Thayer/Getty Pictures/Getty Pictures North America
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Who: Kristi Noem
Nominated for: Secretary of Homeland Safety
You may know her from: Being the two-term governor of South Dakota
Extra about Noem:
What does this function do: Advises the president on safety points inside america. Accountable for immigration and border-related points; the Coast Guard; the Federal Emergency Administration Company; counterterrorism; aviation safety; and cybersecurity. Oversees greater than a quarter-million staff.
What occurred on the listening to:
Noem would lead the division poised to be on the middle of Trump’s immigration coverage priorities, together with any deportation efforts, visa modifications, and border safety.
“The explanation that I requested for it’s as a result of I knew it was the president’s primary precedence,” Noem informed the Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee, about why she is greatest for the function.
“I knew that it will be wanted to have somebody within the place, that may do what the president promised the American folks and could be sturdy sufficient to do it.”
Lawmakers centered on working with Noem on the division’s priorities, reasonably than questioning her {qualifications}, suggesting she faces a clean path to affirmation.
Along with overseeing the immigration businesses, DHS additionally handles intelligence, surveillance and coaching to stop and observe terrorist threats.
“Now, President Trump clearly received the final election with a transparent mandate, and that mandate is for the American folks to safe that border. But in addition we have to give attention to home terrorism and homegrown terrorism,” she later stated, in a response to a query from Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., concerning the specter of terrorism.
Immigration as a significant problem
However when requested about different points, similar to cybersecurity or home terrorism, Noem usually pivoted to discussing border safety.
“Why would we ever enable somebody to return in from one other nation and never have penalties?” Noem stated. She reiterated {that a} precedence will likely be to instantly deport those that are within the nation with out authorization and have legal convictions.
Noem stated she would associate with Trump to reinstate the ‘Stay in Mexico’ coverage, also referred to as the Migrant Safety Protocols, which might require sure asylum seekers to attend in Mexico till their court docket listening to dates within the U.S., in an effort to restrict the variety of folks ready inside U.S. borders.
And he or she vowed to close down the CPB One App, an app asylum seekers use to set appointments, which Trump has falsely stated is used for smuggling migrants.
She additionally stated she wished to finish using the parole program, which processes sure nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and their instant relations’ requests to return to america.
Noem described the southern border as a “conflict zone,” reiterating that she despatched her state’s Nationwide Guard there eight instances, six of them in partnership with Texas.
Noem is anticipated to work to implement immigration coverage set by ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan, who sits contained in the White Home, and deputy chief of workers Stephen Miller, who can be centered on immigration.
Answering questions concerning the relationship with Homan’s White Home advisory function, Noem stated the DHS secretary will nonetheless be chargeable for the actions the division takes.
“There is not any authorities being deliberate to be taken away from the division or or myself if I am within the function,” she stated.
Requested on homegrown terrorism
Democratic senators pressed Noem on what she would do as secretary to stop terrorism, notably home terrorism just like the assault carried out by a U.S. citizen in New Orleans on New 12 months’s Day.
Noem reiterated that “the primary menace to our homeland safety is the southern border,” in response to a query from Peters.
She acknowledged that homegrown terrorism is “on the rise” and that “understanding when individuals are leaving the nation and coming again and modifications to their behaviors, and what their actions are, is critically essential.”
However she didn’t present particulars or suggest particular insurance policies to handle the difficulty.
Later, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Ct., urged Noem to provide enough consideration to ISIS and different terror organizations radicalizing folks dwelling within the U.S.
“I do know there’s plenty of give attention to the border. All of us need extra border safety. We need to cease migrant crime — however let’s not take our eye off the ball,” Blumenthal stated.
“The governor of Louisiana for the Tremendous Bowl must be actually riveted on the potential for homegrown terrorism as a menace, and I hope that you’ll assist him and different governors to do their responsibility to guard our folks of america from that homegrown terrorist menace.”
New Orleans hosts the Tremendous Bowl on Feb. 9.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a former CIA officer, urged Noem to “be clear and sincere about info and never conflate issues.”
“Our most up-to-date examples of home terrorism weren’t what we have spent the bulk speaking about right now — crime from a migrant,” Slotkin stated. “And I do not dispute there’s crime, however I simply need to know, and I need to hear from you as an intelligence officer, that you’ll talk about actual threats and never blow one thing up, politicize one thing, make one thing extra thrilling, as a result of that is perhaps what the president needs to listen to.”
Noem informed Slotkin that she would “be as clear and factual daily with you and the American folks as doable, primarily based on the knowledge that I’ve.”
Questions on U.S.-Canada border
Noem has beforehand supported a number of of Trump’s immigration insurance policies and proposals.
As a member of the U.S. Congress, she backed a 2017 government order that banned journey into the U.S. for nationals of seven Muslim-majority international locations.
And just lately, she has voiced assist for Trump’s thought of ending birthright citizenship, regardless of the constitutional issues concerned.
The Homeland Safety committee, which incorporates a number of senators from northern border states like Michigan and New Hampshire, questioned Noem about her focus and dedication to the safety of the border with Canada.
“A few of the landscapes there are very totally different than the southern border. Some simply as equally difficult, however all should be addressed,” she stated.
Previous nationwide profile
If confirmed, Noem will oversee greater than 260,000 federal staff at businesses starting from the Coast Guard and the Transportation Safety Administration to the Federal Emergency Administration Administration and the varied divisions that implement immigration and border legal guidelines.
In 2020, Noem allowed her state to decide in to the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program, which helps refugees admitted into the U.S. settle into the nation.
Over the past 4 years, Noem has positioned herself as powerful on the southern border and drug trafficking by deploying members of the South Dakota Nationwide Guard to the Texas-Mexico border.
She additionally invited controversy final yr. She claimed in a speech that cartels from the southern border used tribal reservations to “spread drugs throughout the Midwest,” and that tribal leaders benefited. Her feedback resulted in her banishment from lands held by the nine tribes of the state.
The Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe did raise Noem’s ban forward of Friday’s listening to.
Whereas testifying, she touted her relationship working with tribes. Noem stated that even in the case of the infrastructure of the border wall, there must be respect for tribal land.
Trump’s border wall building throughout his first time period as president was criticized by border tribes such because the Tohono O’odham in Arizona for being constructed in the course of sacred lands and ancestral burial grounds.
Because the potential new lead of the nation’s federal nationwide catastrophe response, Noem may additionally face questions on her handling of devastating floods in her state. Her response as governor was criticized for not sending the state’s Nationwide Guard, failing to problem evacuation orders and delaying the request for an emergency declaration.
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