Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will be the new secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the third of President Donald Trump’s nominees to now be confirmed.
Noem earned the requisite number of votes from senators Saturday and was confirmed with a vote of 59-34. Former Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was confirmed to be Secretary of State in a unanimous vote Monday and former Fox News Host was confirmed as Secretary of Defense 51-50 Friday night, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.
The confirmation votes came on the heels of Trump’s second oath of office and less than a week after their respective committee hearings.
As the department’s new head, Noem is expected to play a central role in enacting Trump’s campaign promise to deport unauthorized immigrants en masse.
Who is Kristi Noem?
Noem was in her second term as governor of the Mount Rushmore State, when Trump tapped her for a cabinet position. Before moving into the governor’s mansion, Noem served four terms in the House of Representatives as South Dakota’s sole representative.
Noem has been a long time ally of Trump’s. At one point, she was rumored to be on his list of potential 2024 running mates.
What does the Secretary of Homeland Security do?
The Department of Homeland Security oversees multiple agencies, including Customs and Border Protection, as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
While Noem and her workforce of hundreds of thousands is expected to focus heavily on action at the southern border, where Trump has declared a national emergency, she will be working with the president’s border czar, Tom Homan.
What was that about a dog?
Noem came under fire last year, after publishing her memoir, “No Going Back,” and including an anecdote about shooting dead her hunting dog, Cricket.
Noem’s book was also criticized for making false claims regarding a meeting between her and North Korea’s dictator. “Kim Jong-un was included in a list of world leaders (she’d met with) and shouldn’t have been,” Noem’s spokesperson Ian Fury told the New York Times, blaming the error and one other on the book’s ghostwriter and saying both would be corrected in future editions.
