South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s ascension to Homeland Safety secretary-in-waiting got here as a shock in some quarters. In spite of everything, the previous member of Congress hasn’t labored within the division and doesn’t have a legislation enforcement background.
However she benefited from the assist of two of Donald Trump’s key advisers: his 2016 marketing campaign chief Corey Lewandowski, and his incoming Border Czar Tom Homan. Each advocated for her nomination and helped seal the deal, based on two individuals acquainted with Noem’s choice granted anonymity to debate personal deliberations.
Outdoors allies seen Noem’s elevation as additional indication that the administration’s immigration coverage shall be run out of the White Home by Homan and Stephen Miller, deputy chief of employees for coverage and homeland safety adviser. Noem, along with her restricted expertise within the coverage space, may then focus her consideration on the quite a few different businesses inside DHS, together with the Federal Emergency Administration Company, Transportation Safety Administration and Secret Service.
“The one factor I may consider is that the immigration a part of DHS is principally going to be dealt with out of the White Home, and she or he’ll be secretary of FEMA, TSA, Secret Service, cybersecurity — type of an unofficial division of labor,” mentioned Mark Krikorian, government director of the Middle for Immigration Research, a gaggle that pushes for much less authorized immigration and stricter enforcement of immigration legal guidelines.
Homan will work carefully with Noem’s crew at DHS. He previously helmed the DHS company liable for arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants, and was considered one of Trump’s most seen immigration surrogates on the marketing campaign path. Earlier than Election Day, he was rumored to be a contender for DHS secretary however as a substitute took a White Home position engaged on border safety and deportations — a place that doesn’t require Senate affirmation and will have extra versatile duties.
DHS is complicated, and solely the Protection Division has extra workers. It additionally consists of the federal company tasked with cybersecurity and election safety, and an in-house intelligence workplace.
Lewandowski, who hasn’t been named to an administration position, has identified Noem for years. She distanced herself from him in 2021 after the spouse of a Republican donor accused him of undesirable sexual advances. Lewandowski has denied the allegations, and that schism seems to have been mended.
The obvious division of duties results in numerous questions concerning the unofficial management construction, together with whether or not Noem will successfully be reporting to Miller and Homan on immigration. It’s additionally unclear who will fill out the opposite immigration management roles underneath DHS, from head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Customs and Border Safety and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies.
It’s a dynamic that would set the stage for some pressure between the White Home officers and DHS management.
However outdoors allies additionally view the centralization of the work within the White Home as an efficient technique to coordinate border and immigration coverage throughout the federal authorities, they usually consider Noem, as a substitute of choosing fights, will defer to the White Home.
“Noem, as an efficient governor coming in, she’s going to have all these totally different areas of experience,” mentioned Dan Stein, president of the restrictionist Federation for American Immigration Reform. “In our view, she’s going to place her belief in Miller and Homan to information her on correct border safety initiatives — most likely take that load off her. Hopefully there gained’t be battle, however clearly there’s the potential for turf wars.”
Some near Trump harbored issues about Noem’s restricted expertise with pure disasters and presidential safety, and what this might imply for her overseeing the sprawling division. The Secret Service, as an illustration, has come underneath intense scrutiny after two assassination makes an attempt focusing on Trump and a number of investigations have steered it reboot its focus.
Throughout her time as governor, South Dakota has confronted a sequence of pure disasters that required FEMA help, together with main floods this summer time.
However one coverage space she has emphasised as governor is cybersecurity, calling it her state’s “subsequent large business” and touting Dakota State College for specializing in the topic. Noem was one of many earliest governors to ban the Beijing-based app TikTok from state gadgets in 2022.
“The Chinese language Communist Celebration makes use of data that it gathers on TikTok to control the American individuals, they usually collect information off the gadgets that entry the platform,” she mentioned when issuing the ban.
Noem has additionally staked out Trump-friendly positions on immigration. Since turning into governor, she has deployed her state’s Nationwide Guard troops to the southwest border not less than 5 instances. And after American troops pulled out of Afghanistan in August 2021, she expressed hesitance about accepting Afghan refugees in South Dakota.
“I don’t have the arrogance (within the Biden Administration) right now as a result of they haven’t mentioned they’ll vet them,” she said.
