Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to run the Homeland Security Department, will face questions from senators on Friday about an agency that will be critical to fulfilling the new administration’s promises to quickly crack down on immigration.
While Ms. Noem, South Dakota’s governor since 2019, has largely avoided the scrutiny surrounding some of Mr. Trump’s other nominees, the agency she seeks to oversee runs the nation’s immigration system, including law enforcement at the southern border. The department also includes other critical agencies like the Secret Service, the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
She will face lawmakers on the Senate Homeland Security Committee during a time of shifting perceptions of immigration. Mr. Trump’s vows to aggressively police the border and carry out mass deportations helped propel him to victory in November, and some Democrats have signaled support of increased enforcement.
Ms. Noem, 53, favors the immigration restrictions that Mr. Trump campaigned on. She regularly criticized the Biden administration’s policies and as governor even sent the state’s National Guard to the southern border.
“As you know, I’ve taken a stand against this invasion,” she said in a speech last week. “We’ve deployed our South Dakota National Guard to our southern border eight times. That includes five state deployments to support Texas’ work to stop the flow of illegal aliens.”
Mr. Trump has said Ms. Noem is “very strong on border security,” but history suggests it may be challenging to keep him satisfied: During his first term, Mr. Trump had six leaders of the department.
The president-elect has also said that Ms. Noem will work closely with Tom Homan, whom he has announced as the White House’s “border czar” and given a broad portfolio of responsibilities.
The National Border Patrol Council, the union representing Border Patrol agents, has come out in support of Ms. Noem’s nomination.
“We are confident that as secretary, Governor Noem will continue to ensure Border Patrol agents have the resources and manpower that we need to secure our border,” the union wrote in a letter to senators late last year. “We urge you to quickly begin consideration of this critical nomination and confirm Governor Noem as secretary once President Trump is sworn in.”
The American Civil Liberties Union called on senators to probe Ms. Noem’s views on critical issues.
“Given President-elect Trump’s promises, the stakes are even higher,” Sarah Mehta, the group’s senior policy counsel, said in a statement. “The Senate must take seriously its ‘advice and consent’ role and get Kristi Noem on the record on important issues that impact all our communities, including surveillance, religious and racial profiling, and use of force against protesters.”
In order to conceivably carry out Mr. Trump’s promised largest deportation effort in U.S. history, the department will need many things, including more resources, expanded cooperation across the country from local jails and increased deportations to countries that generally limit the return of their nationals.
Before she was elected governor, Ms. Noem served as a congresswoman from 2011 to 2019.
