WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump has picked South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to serve as the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Noem, once seen as a possible running mate for Republican Trump, is currently serving her second four-year term as South Dakota’s governor after a landslide re-election victory in 2022.
She rose to national prominence after refusing to impose a statewide mask mandate during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, Noem had a turbulent few months politically this year.
She faced widespread backlash in April this year when she wrote in a memoir that she shot to death an “untrainable” dog that she “hated” on her family farm, following which some Trump advisers said they believed that Noem’s stock had fallen in the former president’s eyes at the time when she was still a vice president contender.
Both Trump’s campaign and Noem’s office did not respond to requests for comments outside regular business hours.
The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for everything from border protection and immigration to disaster response and the US Secret Service.
Trump on Monday appointed Tom Homan as his administration’s incoming “border czar”. Homan said he will prioritize deporting illegal immigrants who pose threats to public safety and national security.
Sources told Reuters on Monday that Trump was expected to tap US Senator Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state.
