John Jefferson
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s nomination to head the Department of Homeland Security is being welcomed by law-and-order advocates and southern border stakeholders as she prepares to meet with the Senate on Friday for a confirmation hearing.
President-elect Trump announced her as his choice on Nov. 12, just days after beating Vice President Harris in the election, who was widely condemned as ineffective on border security under President Biden.
“She was the first Governor to send National Guard Soldiers to help Texas fight the Biden Border Crisis, and they were sent a total of eight times,” the Trump transition team noted in a statement announcing her nomination. “She will work closely with ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan to secure the Border, and will guarantee that our American Homeland is secure from our adversaries.”
Trump made combating migrant crime central to his campaign, an important issue for voters that went largely ignored by Democrats, who dismissed congressional hearings involving testimony from victims’ families as politically motivated.
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“I think it’s a wonderful, wonderful nomination,” said Jim Chilton, an Arizona rancher whose property straddles the end of one section of border wall.
“Last year we had three people die on the ranch, two evidently with dehydration, one was evidently murdered by a cartel,” he told Fox News Digital over the phone. “One of my cowboys found his body and his head cut off.”
Five miles of his 50,000-acre property are protected by the wall, he said, but thousands of people have crossed his property on another half-mile that is left exposed by incomplete construction. In April alone, he said, more than 5,600 people crossed his property around the end of the barrier.
“The solution is to finish the wall, put the Border Patrol on the wall, arrest anybody trying to climb over or cut through the wall, and prevent anybody from coming into the United States without proper documentation,” he told Fox News Digital.
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Cartel scouts, he said, control the high ground, patrolling the mountains above his ranch and watching for Border Patrol agents, relaying information via satellite and radio to their smuggler counterparts.
Authorities have thwarted their efforts when possible, however.
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“Last month, Border Patrol apprehended a group on my ranch, and they had an AK-47 and 100 pounds of cocaine,” Chilton said. “It’s just outrageous.”
As for the agents themselves, they are looking forward to getting back to work under a supportive White House, according to Hector Garza, a member of the force for more than 20 years and the president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2455 in Laredo.
“We’re excited for the new Border Patrol leadership,” he told Fox News Digital. “For us as agents, it means border security – and it also means safety.”
Under the Biden-Harris administration, he said, agents have suffered from a lack of manpower and equipment.
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“We had an open border, where our agents were so busy processing family units and unaccompanied children,” he added. “Meanwhile, all of these dangerous criminals were eluding law enforcement, and what that means is many criminals have entered the U.S. and are now living in our communities.”
Those threats include members of the violent, transnational gangs MS-13 and Tren de Aragua.
“They are terrorizing our fellow citizens in the U.S.,” Garza said. “Now we’re going to have a very difficult job to undo everything that the Biden administration has done.”
However, he said, he is confident they can get the job done with the backing of Trump, Noem, Homan, Customs and Border Protection commissioner nominee Rodney Scott and supportive members in Congress.
“President Trump can’t do it alone,” he said. “Congress is a very important piece of the puzzle.”
Noem, who has advocated for stronger border measures for more than a decade, has vowed to both secure the border and “restore safety to American communities” – many of which have been plagued by migrant crime in recent years. Before she won election to the South Dakota governor’s office, she served in the House of Representatives and as a state lawmaker.
Shocking slayings have victimized women and girls around the country, in Texas, Maryland, Georgia, Massachusetts and elsewhere, repeatedly grabbing national attention during the Biden-Harris administration.
Trump has invited some of the victims’ families to attend his inauguration to a second term on Monday.
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