President-elect Donald Trump is expected to select South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security, naming a loyal ally to carry out his border security and deportation plans.
Ms. Noem has taken a stern approach to immigration during her time in Congress and as governor, where she deployed troops from her state’s National Guard to assist Texas as it sought to fill gaps in enforcement during the Biden administration.
Last week she posted to social media praising Mr. Trump’s promises of mass deportations, although suggesting it will be done strategically.
“President Trump will deport the most dangerous illegal aliens first — the murderers, rapists, and other criminals that Harris and Biden let into the country. They do not belong here, and we will not let them back in,” she wrote on X.
Her upcoming pick was first reported by CNN.
She would need to be confirmed by the Senate to win the post.
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Ms. Noem during her congressional career earned a lifetime C+ rating from NumbersUSA, which advocates for stricter immigration controls.
The group gave her high marks for her approach to border security and deporting unauthorized immigrants from the interior but middling scores for her votes on reducing guest workers and shrinking asylum claims. The low scores were largely due to her supporting large spending bills that didn’t defund Obama-era leniency toward unauthorized immigrants.
Immigration is expected to take up much of the next secretary’s time, since Homeland Security oversees the three major immigration agencies that handle the border, interior enforcement and legal immigration.
But the department also includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Protective Service, which guards federal property. And it includes the Secret Service, which has been under fire after two failed assassination attempts against Mr. Trump.
The incoming president has been quickly filling out his immigration team. Earlier this week he named Tom Homan, a former chief of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to be his border czar, coordinating immigration policy from the White House.
And he tapped Stephen Miller, a longtime aide who was a chief architect of immigration policy in the first Trump administration, to be his deputy chief of staff for policy.
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Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies, said picking Ms. Noem makes sure Mr. Trump keeps more direct control over immigration.
“It’s clear that the leadership on immigration is going to come from the White House, with Tom Homan and Stephen Miller. Noem is someone who can presumably manage the other moving parts,” she said.
Online, the pick was met with skepticism from even some committed Trump enthusiasts who doubted Ms. Noem’s ability to frighten America’s adversaries in the smuggling cartels or terrorist communities.
Trump critics, meanwhile, mocked Ms. Noem’s admission in her recent memoir that she killed a 14-month-old hunting dog that she said was unruly and “untrainable.”
Immigration was a key issue for Mr. Trump in the campaign and his promises to tackle the border mess that erupted during the early part of the Biden administration will demand quick attention.
The border numbers have improved in recent months, though overall illegal immigration remains higher than it was when Mr. Trump left office the first time.
The incoming president has promised to complete his border wall, to pressure Mexico to do more to stop migrants reaching the border and to launch a mass deportation.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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