NOEM is in charge of a wide-ranging agency that deals with many important issues such as immigration and customs.
The U.S. Senate has confirmed Christie Naim as Homeland Security secretary, putting the South Dakota governor in charge of a key agency for President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Lawmakers voted 59-34 on Saturday to confirm Noem, who will succeed Pat Hegsett as secretary of defense, Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state, and John as director of the spy agency CIA. Ratcliffe became the fourth person in the administration to get the green light.
As of 2019, NOEM served as South Dakota’s first female governor and is a four-term congresswoman. She will now head the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration, customs, emergency management, and the Security Service.
“We must secure our borders against illegal smuggling and immigration. Noem told senators during his confirmation hearing that we must protect our critical infrastructure to ensure we are safe from cyberattacks, natural disasters Respond to, and respond to terrorism as well.
“Getting criminal aliens off our streets and out of the country will help make American communities safe again,” he said.
Nim said his focus would also be on “homegrown terrorism”, and promised there would be no “political bias” when managing disaster relief.
A longtime Trump ally, the new secretary takes over amid a series of immigration executive actions by the president that have so far included declaring a national emergency at the U.S. southern border and beginning the process of ending birthright citizenship.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he rejected mask mandates and social distancing. Trump also previously praised him for sending National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border.
It remains to be seen how his role will mesh with the role of “border czar” given to Tom Homan, who is serving as a point person to discuss Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Homan is stressing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will be strengthened to be able to conduct raids against undocumented immigrants across the country.
