Senate Committee Advances Noem’s Nomination for DHS Secretary, Full Senate Vote This Week

FAIR Take | January 2025
On Monday, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) voted to move forward with the nomination of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, President Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The final committee vote was 13-2, with all Republicans and all but two Democrats supporting. Only Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Ruben Gallego (Ariz.) voted against her nomination in committee.
The committee’s move follows a confirmation hearing last Friday. During that hearing, members of the committee asked Noem about a variety of subjects, such as cybersecurity, the Secret Service, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), all of which are managed by DHS. A majority of the time, however, focused on the border crisis.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) introduced Noem at the hearing and applauded her work as South Dakota’s governor. In his statement, Leader Thune emphasized Noem’s readiness to deliver real solutions to end mass illegal immigration, saying, “we have somebody nominated by the president that I believe has the capabilities, the qualities, the experience, and again, frankly, the determination and toughness to solve what is a very, very tough issue and one which is desperately in need of solutions.”
Throughout the hearing, Governor Noem vowed that if confirmed, she will ensure that DHS secures our borders and strengthens interior enforcement. In particular, Noem emphasized the importance of swiftly deporting criminal aliens. In an exchange with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Noem cited the astounding numbers of dangerous, criminal aliens on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) non-detained docket: “425,000 plus people have criminal convictions that are here illegally in this country that our current administration is doing nothing to round them up and get them out of our country. We will be doing that immediately, and that will be the priority.” Indeed, among those 425,000 aliens are over 13,000 convicted of murder, 15,000 convicted of sexual assault, 62,000 convicted of assault, and 2,500 convicted of kidnapping. Noem was adamant that under her leadership DHS would target the record numbers of criminal aliens for removal that have taken up residency in the United States.
Kristi Noem promises that under her leadership, DHS employees will get back to their mission.
Border Patrol agents should be empowered to do their jobs, not process paperwork to help facilitate illegal immigration pic.twitter.com/B9JDQLuKVJ— Federation for American Immigration Reform (@FAIRImmigration) January 17, 2025
Noem also pledged to put a stop to lawless programs used by the Biden administration to facilitate mass illegal immigration, and to quickly reimplement policies to secure the border. First, Noem told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) that she would work to reinstate the Remain in Mexico program, which requires asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for their court hearings. Under the first Trump administration, that program was proven to deter aliens from using fraudulent asylum claims as a fast pass into the country. Noem then spoke on the importance of ending abuse of the CBP One mobile application and shutting down the illegal Cuban-Haitian-Nicaraguan-Venezuelan (CHNV) parole, programs which were both used under the Biden administration to facilitate the entry of record numbers of illegal aliens with little to no vetting.
Abuse of the CBP One app and the unlawful CHNV mass parole program have been disasters for America.
Those programs need to be shut down and Remain in Mexico must come back.
Kristi Noem says she and President Trump will do just that⬇️ pic.twitter.com/H7ur8WKFmo— Federation for American Immigration Reform (@FAIRImmigration) January 17, 2025
Noem also noted that it was critically important to rally border agents and immigration enforcement alike around the Department’s mission to protect the homeland. She said that she aims to boost morale and get agents back on task by empowering them to do their jobs. Noem remarked: Some of these Border Patrol agents haven’t been able to do their jobs for a very long time. They’ve been processing paperwork and facilitating an invasion when they should be back securing our border, which is why they were recruited and wanted to serve there to begin with.” In addition, Noem promised to increase collaboration between DHS and state and local law enforcement, form partnerships, and streamline communication, all of which were notably lacking under the Biden administration.
Kristi Noem promises that under her leadership, DHS employees will get back to their mission.
Border Patrol agents should be empowered to do their jobs, not process paperwork to help facilitate illegal immigration pic.twitter.com/B9JDQLuKVJ— Federation for American Immigration Reform (@FAIRImmigration) January 17, 2025
Following the committee vote, Senators expressed support for a quick confirmation in the full Senate. HSGAC Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said that, “Throughout the confirmation process, Governor Kristi Noem has demonstrated she is prepared to face the challenges of being DHS Secretary. I’m proud to support her nomination and commend the Committee for the bipartisan effort in advancing her nomination to the Senate floor, where she will be confirmed quickly.” The committee’s ranking Democratic Member, Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.), said in a statement: “We had some long conversations with her, and although we don’t agree on all the issues, I think it’s someone who I can work with in the next few years on homeland security issues…As ranking member, it’s important to have a working relationship with her, and she certainly has been open to dialog and conversation.”
If confirmed as Secretary of Homeland Security, Governor Noem will oversee more than 260,000 employees, including the critical immigration agencies that make up the department: Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). These agencies oversee border security, interior immigration enforcement, and our legal immigration processes.
Governor Noem is next set to face a final confirmation vote in the full Senate, expected to take place as soon as this week. After four years of chaos and lawlessness at our borders, Americans gave the Trump administration a historic mandate to reverse the humanitarian disaster at our borders—FAIR looks forward to working closely with Secretary Noem and the administration to do just that.
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