Kristi Noem
Announced as Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been announced by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security. As governor, Noem deployed South Dakota National Guard troops to Texas to assist with border enforcement, funding the operation through a private donation from a Tennessee billionaire. She also opposed accepting Afghan refugees in 2021.
Noem’s tenure has been marked by controversy. She used the state airplane for trips that “blurred the lines between official travel and attending either family or political events,” which led to an investigation by the state ethics board and referral to the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation. She also intervened with a state agency after her daughter’s application for a real estate appraiser license was denied.
In a version of her book, Noem claimed to have scheduled meetings with world leaders, including North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and French President Emmanuel Macron, though there is no record of these meetings, and Macron’s office confirmed that no meeting was scheduled. In the same book, Noem described killing her 14-month-old puppy after deeming it untrainable.
Noem has been banned from several Native American reservations in South Dakota after suggesting that Native communities work with drug cartels. Her comments were condemned as defamatory and racist by tribal leaders.Experts have been baffled by Noem’s selection to head the DHS. Some predict that her nomination means Stephen Miller, who Trump tapped for homeland security advisor and White House deputy chief of staff, and “Border Czar” Tom Homan, who advocated for Noem’s nomination, will effectively be running immigration policy out of the White House. Her nomination has also been called “an apparent reward for being one of the most vocal communicators of Trump’s immigration policy during the election campaign.”
WHAT DOES PROJECT 2025 SAY ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY?
– Increase use of Expedited Removal from the current limit (within 100 miles of the border) to the full country. Trump has also promised to take immigration authority further, stating: “On Day One of my new term in office, I will sign an executive order making clear to federal agencies that…going forward, the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship.” This disregards the 14th Amendment’s express provision on birthright citizenship.
– Cap, reduce, restrict, or phase out visas, reducing legal immigration that is essential to American supply chains and industries. Project 2025’s and Trump’s proposals could eliminate ~300,000 H2-A, ~64,000 H2-B, and some portion of ~445,000 student visas for students who hail from countries the Administration disfavors.
– Grant Intelligence Community security privileges to ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers, agencies and agents that have demonstrated loyalty to Trump.
– Condition federal funding, including FEMA funding, for state and local governments on compliance with the Administration’s extremist agenda, requiring states to provide abortion and immigration related data.
– Deploy “active-duty military personnel and National Guardsmen to assist in arrest operations along the border” and pressure Congress to “unequivocally authorize state and local law enforcement to participate in immigration and border security.”
– Eliminate T visas (for victims of human trafficking) and U visas (for victims of certain crimes who are helpful to law enforcement).
PRECEDING CONTEXT FOR PROJECT 2025
– In June 2020, Trump harmed American businesses by suspending visas and banning certain workers until the end of the year. Despite the fact that every H-2B job was offered to a U.S. worker first as is required by law, Trump considered extending the ban into 2021.
– The Trump Administration separated and detained immigrant children, ripping them away from their parents; as of 2023, nearly 1,000 children affected by this policy remained separated.
– The Trump Administration circulated a plan within the Department of Homeland Security to use 100,000 National Guard troops to round up millions of undocumented immigrants in 11 states for deportation.
HOW ARE PROJECT 2025’S POLICIES POSSIBLE?
– The federal government has “plenary power” over immigration, which has been confirmed in numerous Supreme Court cases dating back to the Chinese Exclusion Cases. This means that Congress, in enacting laws, and the President, in implementing them, retain broad powers to prohibit the entry of immigrants and implement other policies so long as there is a “facially legitimate and bona fide” reason for implementing the policy.
– Most recently, the MAGA-majority Supreme Court upheld Trump’s Muslim Ban in Trump v. Hawaii. Challenges to immigration policies are generally possible only when an action conflicts with either a congressional statute or due process rights, which are limited for immigrants at the border.