By STEPHEN GROVES, Related Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed Kristi Noem as homeland safety secretary on Saturday, placing the South Dakota governor in command of a sprawling company that’s important to nationwide safety and President Donald Trump’s plans to clamp down on unlawful immigration.
Republicans stored the Senate working Saturday to put in the most recent member of Trump’s nationwide safety crew. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth was confirmed in a dramatic tie-breaking vote Friday night time, becoming a member of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. The Senate will subsequent vote Monday night on Scott Bessent’s affirmation as treasury secretary.
Noem, a Trump ally who’s in her second time period as governor, obtained some help from Democrats on the Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee when it voted 13-2 to advance her nomination earlier within the week. Republicans, who already maintain the votes mandatory to substantiate her, have additionally expressed confidence in her dedication to steer border safety and immigration enforcement.
“Fixing this crisis and restoring respect for the rule of law is one of President Trump and Republicans’ top priorities,” Senate Majority Chief John Thune, R-S.D., mentioned Friday. “And it’s going to require a decisive and committed leader at the Department of Homeland Security. I believe Kristi has everything it takes to undertake this task.”
Democrats are cut up on easy methods to deal with border enforcement and immigration underneath Trump, with some warming to his hard-line stand.
Nonetheless, Senate Democratic chief Chuck Schumer of New York mentioned he would vote in opposition to Noem. He pointed to “bipartisan solutions to fix the mess at our border,” including that Noem “seems headed in the wrong direction.”
The homeland safety secretary oversees U.S. Customs and Border Safety, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Citizenship and Immigration Providers. Past these businesses, the division can also be chargeable for securing airline transportation, defending dignitaries, responding to pure disasters and extra.
Trump is planning main adjustments to how the division features, together with involving the army in immigration enforcement and reshaping the Federal Emergency Administration Company. These plans may instantly put Noem within the highlight after the brand new president visited latest catastrophe websites in North Carolina and California on Friday.
Throughout her Senate listening to, Noem was repeatedly requested by Democratic senators whether or not she would administer catastrophe assist to states even when Trump requested her to not.
Noem prevented saying she would defy the president, however she instructed lawmakers, “I will deliver the programs according to the law and that it will be done with no political bias.”
Six individuals cycled by way of as homeland safety secretary throughout Trump’s first 4 years in workplace.
Noem, who held her state’s lone U.S. Home seat for eight years earlier than changing into governor in 2019, has risen within the GOP by tacking carefully with Trump. At one level, she was even into consideration to be his working mate.
Her political inventory took a momentary dip, nevertheless, when she launched a e-book final yr containing an account of her killing her searching canine, in addition to a false declare that she as soon as met with North Korean chief Kim Jong Un.
If confirmed, she could be tasked with delivering on Trump’s favourite difficulty, border safety. The president’s objectives of deporting thousands and thousands of people that entered the nation illegally may put Noem, together with her expertise governing a rural state and rising up on a farm, in a tough place. In South Dakota, many migrants, some within the nation with out everlasting authorized standing, energy the labor-heavy jobs that produce meals and housing.
She has up to now pledged to faithfully execute the president’s orders and copied his speak of an “invasion” on the U.S. border with Mexico.
Noem joined different Republican governors who despatched Nationwide Guard troops to Texas to help Operation Lone Star, which sought to discourage migrants. Her determination was particularly criticized as a result of she accepted a $1 million donation from a Tennessee billionaire to cowl among the deployment price.
Noem mentioned she opted to ship Nationwide Guard troops “because of this invasion,” including that “it is a war zone down there.”
Initially Printed: January 25, 2025 at 9:04 AM PST
