Senate confirms Kristi Noem as Trump’s secretary of Homeland Security
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WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Kristi Noem as secretary of Homeland Security, putting the former South Dakota governor in charge of a sprawling agency that is essential to national security and President Trump’s plans to clamp down on illegal immigration.
Republicans kept the Senate working Saturday to install the latest member of Trump’s national security team.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was confirmed Friday night in a tiebreaking vote, joining Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. The Senate will vote Monday evening on Scott Bessent’s confirmation as Treasury secretary.
Noem, a Trump ally who was in her second term as governor, received seven votes from Democrats. Republicans, who already had the votes necessary to confirm her, have also expressed confidence in her determination to lead border security and immigration enforcement.
In a statement after her confirmation, she pledged “to secure our southern border and fix our broken immigration system” while working to “detect and prevent terror threats and will deliver rapid assistance and disaster relief to Americans in crisis.”
The Homeland Security secretary oversees U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Citizenship and Immigration Services. Beyond those agencies, the department is also responsible for securing airline transportation, protecting dignitaries and responding to natural disasters.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Friday that “fixing this crisis and restoring respect for the rule of law is one of President Trump and Republicans’ top priorities. And it’s going to require a decisive and committed leader” at the department.
Democrats are split on how to handle border enforcement and immigration under Trump, with some warming to his hard-line stand.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is facing senators during her confirmation hearing as she vies to become the next Homeland Security secretary.
Still, Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, as well as most other Democrats, voted against Noem. He pointed to “bipartisan solutions to fix the mess at our border,” adding that Noem “seems headed in the wrong direction.”
Trump is planning major changes to the way the department functions, including involving the military in immigration enforcement and reshaping the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Those plans could immediately put Noem in the spotlight after the new president visited recent disaster sites in North Carolina and California on Friday.
During her Senate hearing, Noem was repeatedly asked by Democratic senators whether she would administer disaster aid to states even if Trump asked her not to.
Noem avoided saying that she would defy the president, but she told lawmakers, “I will deliver the programs according to the law and ... it will be done with no political bias.”
President Trump signed executive orders that will fundamentally change how the nation handles immigration, beefing up enforcement and deportations.
Six people cycled through as homeland security secretary during Trump’s first four years in office.
Noem, who held her state’s lone U.S. House seat for eight years before becoming governor in 2019, has risen in the GOP by tacking closely with Trump. At one point, she was under consideration to be his running mate.
Her political stock took a momentary dip, however, when she released a book last year containing an account of her killing her hunting dog, as well as a false claim that she once met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Noem will now be tasked with delivering on Trump’s favorite issue, border security. The president’s goals of deporting millions of people who entered the country illegally could put Noem, with her experience governing a rural state and growing up on a farm, in a difficult position. In South Dakota, many migrants, some in the country without permanent legal status, power the labor-heavy jobs that produce food and housing.
Arrivals at the border are the lowest they’ve been since incoming President Trump first left office in 2021.
She has also repeated Trump’s claims of an “invasion” at the U.S. border with Mexico.
Noem joined other Republican governors who sent National Guard troops to Texas to assist Operation Lone Star, which sought to discourage migrants. Her decision was especially criticized because she accepted a $1-million donation from a Tennessee billionaire to cover some of the deployment cost. Noem said she opted to send National Guard troops “because of this invasion,” adding that “it is a war zone down there.”
With Noem’s confirmation Saturday, she resigned as South Dakota governor. She is succeeded by Larry Rhoden, who was her lieutenant governor.
Groves writes for the Associated Press.
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