Department of Homeland Security Secretary-designate Kristi Noem told lawmakers Friday that she would prioritize border security and transparency within the federal government.
“If confirmed as secretary, I will ensure that our exceptional, extraordinary Border Patrol agents have all the tools, resources, and support they need to carry out their mission effectively,” Noem told senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee at her confirmation hearing.
President-elect Donald Trump tapped Noem, currently governor of South Dakota, to serve as his homeland security secretary only a week after winning the election in November. Noem faced many questions during her two-and-a-half-hour confirmation hearing, but it was not a contentious hearing. Noem is expected to be confirmed easily.
“She has been very passionate about national security, and she [will] come well-prepared [with] both executive leadership-level experience and a good knowledge of what it takes to secure [the country],” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told The Daily Signal outside the hearing room.
Much of Friday’s hearing focused on the issue of border security, an issue Trump made a pillar of his campaign.
“Border security must remain a top priority,” Noem said.
The South Dakotan has been a vocal advocate of securing the border as governor and was one of a number of Republican governors to send National Guard troops to the border to aid Texas in its fight to stop illegal immigration.
Answering questions from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Noem pledged to work with Trump to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy and to shut down the Biden administration’s CBP One app, a mobile application that has allowed for an influx of illegal aliens to be paroled into the U.S.
“If you are confirmed, how many people on the terrorist watchlist would you allow into this country?” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, asked Noem.
“We would work every single day until we had that number at zero,” she said, adding that there were 11 illegal aliens on the terrorist watchlist encountered at the southern border during Trump’s first administration.
“[Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas let in about 12,000 [murderers],” Moreno said. “How many would you allow in?”
“My goal would be zero,” Noem said.
Noem is expected to work closely with Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, to secure the border, prompting Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., to ask: “Who’s going be in charge of the border?”
“Well, the president will be in charge of the border,” Noem answered. “It’s a national security issue, and the president is in charge of this issue and has made a promise to the American people and we will fulfill his agenda.”
“What this nation needs is comprehensive immigration reform,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said to Noem, adding that the U.S. does need stronger border security before asking her how she would protect illegal-immigrant children from being separated from their families.
“Keeping families together is critically important to me and to this county. I‘m concerned about Laken Riley’s family that they no longer have her,” Noem said, referring to the Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an illegal alien. “I‘m concerned that we have people in this country that don‘t know where their children are, or people in other countries who sent their children here, and they have been lost by this administration. Yes, my focus will be to keep families together.”
Beyond border and immigration issues, Noem pledged to reform the Secret Service and investigate the agency’s failures that led to the assassination attempts on Trump during the 2024 presidential election campaign.
“We all saw the threats to President-elect Trump last year, and the consequences of failure,” she said. “Now, that should never happen again. And I have worked closely with my own gubernatorial protective detail and am familiar with what works and what doesn’t work. And I will bring that experience toward strengthening our Secret Service once again.”
In regarding to the threat of terrorism, the South Dakotan promised to “ensure that our intelligence and law enforcement agencies are working together, hand-in-hand, fully equipped to detect, prevent, and respond to threats from radical ideologies or foreign adversaries.”
“I am committed to working with this committee, with Congress, and with the dedicated men and women of the Department of Homeland Security to fulfill our mission,” Noem said. “And together, we can ensure that the United States remains a beacon of freedom, safety, and security for generations to come.”
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
