CNN
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The Senate voted Saturday morning to confirm President Donald Trump’s homeland security secretary Kristy Nom, one of Trump’s leaders at the helm of an agency poised to play a central role in the president’s promised immigration crackdown. A longtime ally was appointed.
The vote was split, 59-34.
Nome has served as the governor of South Dakota since 2019 and is a former state legislator and four-term congresswoman. He will now be tasked with leading the Department of Homeland Security, a sprawling agency that oversees everything from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Secret Service. does
“The mission and success of DHS is more important than ever,” Nome told senators during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill. “We must secure our borders against illegal smuggling and immigration. We must protect our critical infrastructure to ensure we are safe from cyber attacks, natural disasters and terrorism.”
Calling border security a “top priority,” Nome said Trump was elected with a “clear mandate” on immigration. “Getting criminal aliens off our streets and out of the country will help make American communities safe again,” he said.
Trump began his second term with a series of immigration administration measures that included declaring a national emergency at the U.S. southern border and beginning the process of ending birthright citizenship, a move that almost immediately backfired. gave rise to a legal challenge.
In addition to immigration, Naeem addressed several other issues during his confirmation hearing. In response to questions from Democrats, he said his leadership would have “no political bias” when it comes to disaster relief and should focus on domestic terrorism, saying “domestic terrorism is on the rise. is on,” calling the deadly New Year’s truck attack in New Orleans “a horrific event.”
Noem’s national profile rose during the Covid-19 pandemic, when she rejected mask mandates and social distancing, and she was at one point considered a potential running mate for Trump in his bid to win back the White House. was considered the top contender.
But Naeem found himself embroiled in controversy last year after the publication of an excerpt from a book in which he revealed he had shot and killed a family dog, a 14-month-old wire-haired pointer named Cricket. In the gravel pit because the dog was “untrainable” and “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with.”
Naeem has defended her actions and argued that the stories were meant to show how capable she was of doing something more gruesome in life when necessary.
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Eric Bradner and Caitlan Collins contributed to this report.
