Kristi Noem is the 8th Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Prior to serving in President Trump’s cabinet, Secretary Noem proudly served as South Dakota’s 33rd Governor and the state’s first ever female governor. She was re-elected in 2022 with the largest vote total in the history of South Dakota.
Before serving as Governor, she served as South Dakota's sole member of the U.S. House of Representatives and in the South Dakota legislature for years.
A South Dakota native, Secretary Noem is a rancher, farmer, small business owner, and proud mother and grandmother.
Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem[1] (/noʊm/ NOHM;[2] née Arnold; born November 30, 1971) is an American politician serving as the 8th United States secretary of homeland security since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, she served from 2019 to 2025 as the 33rd governor of South Dakota and from 2011 to 2019 represented South Dakota's at-large congressional district in the U.S. House. She began her political career in the South Dakota House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2011.
Noem was the first female governor of South Dakota, elected in 2018 with the endorsement of President Donald Trump. She gained national attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for opposing statewide mask mandates and advocating voluntary measures. Noem has conservative positions on most domestic issues, particularly gun rights.
In addition to politics, Noem is a farmer and rancher. She has published two autobiographies, Not My First Rodeo: Lessons from the Heartland (2022) and No Going Back (2024), which sparked controversy for its account of her killing a young family dog and claims to have met with foreign leaders.
Noem and her family lived on their South Dakota ranch even during her tenure as governor.
Early life and education
Noem was born Kristi Lynn Arnold to Ron and Corinne Arnold on November 30, 1971, in Watertown, South Dakota,[3] and raised with her siblings on the family ranch and farm in rural Hamlin County.[4] She has Norwegian ancestry.[5] In 1990, Noem graduated from Hamlin High School and was crowned South Dakota Snow Queen.[6] Her father was killed in a farm machinery accident in 1994.[4][7]
Noem attended Northern State University from 1990 to 1994, but did not graduate. Her daughter, Kassidy, was born on April 21, 1994. Noem left college early to run the family farm. She added a hunting lodge and restaurant to the family property. Her siblings also moved back to help expand the businesses.[4]
Noem subsequently took classes at the Watertown campus of Mount Marty College and at South Dakota State University, and online classes from the University of South Dakota.[4][6][8] She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in political science from South Dakota State University in 2012[9] while serving as a U.S. representative.[10] The Washington Post dubbed her Capitol Hill's "most powerful intern" for receiving college intern credits from her position as a member of Congress.[11]
South Dakota House of Representatives (2007–2011)
In 2006, Noem won a seat as a Republican in the South Dakota House of Representatives, representing the 6th district, comprising parts of Beadle, Clark, Codington, Hamlin, and Kingsbury counties. In 2006, she won with 39% of the vote.[12] In 2008, she was reelected with 41% of the vote.[13]
Noem served for four years, from 2007 to 2010. She was an assistant majority leader during her second term.[14][15] During her tenure, Noem was the prime sponsor of 11 bills that became law, including several property tax reforms and two bills to increase gun rights in South Dakota.[16][17][18] In 2009, she served as vice chair of the Agriculture Land Assessment Advisory Task Force. Senator Larry Rhoden chaired the task force, and later served as her lieutenant governor.[19] During her tenure, she joined the Civil Air Patrol as a "state legislative member".[20][21]
U.S. House of Representatives (2011–2019)
In 2010, Noem ran for South Dakota's at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.[22] She won the Republican primary[23] and defeated incumbent Democrat Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in the general election. Noem was reelected three times, serving in Congress until 2019.[14]
Tenure
The 2011 House Republican 87-member freshman class elected Noem as liaison to the House Republican leadership, making her the second woman member of the House GOP leadership.[24] According to The Hill, her role was to push the leadership to make significant cuts to federal government spending and to help Speaker John Boehner manage the expectations of the freshman class.[25] In March 2011, Republican Representative Pete Sessions of Texas named Noem one of the 12 regional directors for the National Republican Congressional Committee during the 2012 election campaign.[4][26]
On March 8, 2011, she announced the formation of a leadership political action committee, KRISTI PAC.[27] Former South Dakota Lieutenant Governor Steve Kirby is its treasurer.[28][29][30] Noem was among the top freshman Republicans in PAC fundraising in the first quarter of 2011, raising $169,000 from PACs.[31]
Abortion
Noem co-sponsored legislation that would federally ban abortion.[32] In 2015, she co-sponsored a bill to amend the 14th Amendment to define human life and personhood as beginning at fertilization, federally banning abortion from the moment of fertilization. She also voted for a bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.[33]
Energy and environment
Noem denies the scientific consensus on climate change. In 2022 she said she believes "the science has been varied on it, and it hasn't been proven to me that what we're doing is affecting the climate."[34]
Noem has said that the U.S. needs an "all-of-the-above energy approach" that includes renewables like wind and ethanol while still realizing the need for a "balanced energy mix" that ends American dependence on foreign oil.[35][36][37][38]
Noem supported the Keystone XL Pipeline[39] and supports offshore oil drilling.[40] She co-sponsored three bills that she argued would reduce American dependence on foreign oil by ending the 2010 United States deepwater drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico and reopening sales on oil leases in the Gulf and off the coast of Virginia.[41] In 2011, she sponsored a measure to block Environmental Protection Agency funding for tighter air pollution standards for coarse particulates.[42]
Noem opposed a bill introduced by South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson that would designate over 48,000 acres (190 km2) of the Buffalo Gap National Grassland as protected wilderness.[43] She supports the current designation of the land as a national grassland.[44] She said the land is already managed as roadless areas similar to wilderness[45] and argued that changing the land's designation to wilderness would further limit leaseholder access to the land and imperil grazing rights.[44][45]
Foreign affairs
From 2013 to 2015, Noem served on the House Armed Services Committee, where she worked on the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act.[46] Her appointment to the committee was seen as a benefit to South Dakota's Ellsworth Air Force Base.[47] In March 2011, Noem was critical of President Barack Obama's approach to the NATO-led military intervention in the 2011 Libyan civil war, calling on him to provide more information about the U.S.'s role in the conflict, and characterizing his statements as vague and ambiguous.[48][49]
Health care
Noem opposes the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has voted to repeal it.[50][51] Having unsuccessfully sought to repeal it, she sought to defund it while retaining measures such as the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, the provision allowing parents to keep their children on their health insurance plan into their 20s, and the high-risk pools.[52] Noem wanted to add such provisions to federal law as limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and allowing patients to buy health insurance plans from other states.[52] She supported cuts to Medicaid funding proposed by Republican Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan. A study found that this action would reduce benefits for South Dakota Medicaid recipients by 55 percent.[37]
Immigrants and refugees
Noem supported President Donald Trump's 2017 Executive Order 13769, that suspended the U.S. refugee program for 120 days and banned all travel to the U.S. by nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.[53] She said she supported a temporary ban on accepting refugees from "terrorist-held" areas,[54] but "did not address whether she supports other aspects of the order, which led to the detention of legal U.S. residents such as green-card holders, and people with dual citizenship as they reentered the country" in the aftermath of the order's issuance.[53]
In 2019, Noem consented to South Dakota's participation in the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program following a Trump executive order that allowed state and local governments to opt out.[55]
In-vitro fertilization and embryonic stem-cell research
In August 2010, while running for Congress, Noem responded to a questionnaire from the Christian Coalition voter guide indicating that she would vote to ban embryonic stem-cell research.[33] In 2015, she co-sponsored legislation to amend the 14th Amendment to define human life and personhood as beginning at the moment of fertilization, without exceptions for in-vitro fertilization or embryonic stem-cell research.[33]
Taxes
In 2017, Noem was on the conference committee that negotiated the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which she touted as giving the average South Dakota family a $1,200 tax cut.[56][57]
In 2018, Noem was reported to have "pitched the idea to members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus" to attach her online sales tax bill to the government funding package as part of an omnibus. A court case under consideration in the South Dakota Supreme Court involved requiring "certain out-of-state retailers to collect its sales taxes." Noem said that South Dakota businesses (and by extension businesses nationwide) "could be forced to comply with 1,000 different tax structures nationwide without the tools necessary to do so", adding that her legislation "provides a necessary fix."[58]
Noem has called the budget deficit one of the most important issues facing Congress. She cosponsored H. J. Res. 2, which would require that total spending for any fiscal year not exceed total receipts.[59][60] She cited the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Medicaid, high-speed rail projects, cap-and-trade technical assistance, and subsidies for the Washington Metro rapid transit system as examples of federal programs where she would like to see cuts.[37][59][61][62]
In 2011, Noem indicated that she would vote to raise the federal debt ceiling, but only if "tied to budget reforms that change the way we spend our dollars and how Washington, D.C., does business. It won’t just be a one-time spending cut."[63] She ultimately voted for S. 365, The Budget Control Act of 2011, which allowed Obama to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts to be decided by a bipartisan committee.[64] She also said she wanted to eliminate the estate tax,[65] lower the corporate tax rate, and simplify the tax code.[4] She said she would not raise taxes to balance the budget.[66]
Committee assignments
Caucus memberships
- Republican Study Committee[67]
- Congressional Cement Caucus
- Congressional Arts Caucus[68]
- Afterschool Caucuses[69]
- Congressional Western Caucus[70]
Governor of South Dakota (2019–2025)
Elections
2018
In November 2016, Noem announced she would run for governor of South Dakota in 2018 rather than seek reelection to Congress.[71] She defeated South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley in the June Republican primary, 56 to 44 percent,[72][73] and Democratic nominee Billie Sutton in the general election, 51 to 48 percent.[74]
2022
In November 2021, Noem announced she was running for reelection as governor.[75] State Representative Steven Haugaard, a Republican, announced he was running against Noem.[76] In February 2022, House Democratic Minority Leader Jamie Smith announced he was seeking the Democratic nomination.[77]
In the Republican primary in June, Noem defeated Haugaard, 76% to 24%. In the general election, she defeated Smith, 62% to 35%. Despite predictions of a competitive race, Noem flipped 17 counties that had previously voted Democratic and set a record for the most votes received by a candidate for governor in South Dakota.
Tenure
Noem was sworn in as governor on January 5, 2019, the first woman in that office in the state.[78]
Abortion
Noem is anti-abortion.[79] She has been lauded by the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List[80] and said she intends to maintain her 100% anti-abortion voting record.[65][81]
In 2019, Noem signed bills restricting abortion, saying they would "crack down on abortion providers in South Dakota" and that a "strong and growing body of medical research provides evidence that unborn babies can feel, think, and recognize sounds in the womb. These are people, they must be given the same basic dignities as anyone else."[82]
Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, South Dakota became one of the first states to enact trigger laws banning abortions.[83] Noem defended South Dakota's abortion ban, which only allows exceptions in cases in which the mother's life is in danger. When asked about the case of the 10-year-old child abuse victim who traveled from Ohio to Indiana to receive an abortion, Noem said she would not support changing the law to allow exceptions for rape victims, explaining that she does not "believe a tragic situation should be perpetuated by another tragedy."[83]
She proclaimed 2024 the "Freedom for Life Year", promoting anti-abortion laws.[84] In April 2024, Noem announced she had reversed her support for a federal ban on abortion, saying she believed abortion law should be determined at the state level, and continued to support South Dakota's law banning abortion except to save the life of the pregnant patient, without exceptions for rape or incest.[85]
Access to public records
While running for governor in 2018, Noem made government transparency part of her platform.[86][87] In her first State of the State address she pledged to "work toward building the most transparent administration South Dakota has ever seen".[88][89]
Throughout her tenure, news outlets and government transparency advocates have sued Noem for failing to provide the transparency she advocated.[90][91] Complaints have included denial of immediate access to a state-funded report about the alleged presence of critical race theory and "divisive concepts" in South Dakota schools;[92][93][94] denial of access to pardon records;[90] not releasing the cost of the governor's security team;[95][96] whipping votes against a bill to make public records of the cost of the governor's security;[95][97] and attempts to seal records on an ethics investigation involving her daughter.[98]
Anti-protest legislation
In response to protests against the Keystone Pipeline, Noem's office collaborated with the energy company TransCanada Corporation to develop anti-protest legislation, which Noem signed into law in 2019. The law created a fund to cover the costs of policing pipeline protests. Another law was passed to raise revenue for the fund by creating civil penalties for advising, directing, or encouraging participation in rioting. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation banned Noem from their grounds as a result. The Indigenous Environmental Network, Sierra Club, and other groups challenged the laws in suits, arguing that they violated First Amendment rights by incentivizing the state to sue protesters.[99] In 2020, after a federal court struck down sections of the legislation as unconstitutional, Noem brought legislation to repeal sections of the previous bill and clarify the definition of "incitement to riot".[100]
China
Noem has called China "an enemy" of the US.[101] In 2022, she issued an order banning TikTok from state-owned devices, saying the "Chinese Communist Party uses information it gathers on TikTok to manipulate the American people..."[102] In 2023, she signed an order prohibiting the downloading or use of any application or visiting of any site owned by the Chinese company Tencent, including WeChat, on state-owned devices.[103] In 2024, she signed a bill prohibiting the governments of six countries—China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela—and entities from those countries from buying agricultural land in South Dakota.[104]
Conflict of interest action to professionally benefit daughter
In 2020, after Noem's 26-year-old daughter,[105] Kassidy Peters, was denied a real estate appraisal license, Noem summoned to her office Sherry Bren, a state employee who had directed South Dakota's Appraiser Certification Program for 30 years.[106] Attendees included Peters, Noem's chief of staff Tony Venhuizen,[107] Department of Labor Attorney Amber Mulder and Labor Secretary Marcia Hultman.[108]
By telephone, the group was joined by the governor's general counsel, Tom Hart, and a lawyer from the state's Department of Labor and Regulation, Graham Oey.[106] A week later, Hultman demanded Bren's resignation. Bren repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, tried to resolve the issues short of resigning, eventually filing an age discrimination complaint.[106] She received a $200,000 settlement as part of a nondisclosure agreement to withdraw her complaint and leave her position.[109] Noem's spokesperson characterized the allegations as an example of how Noem cuts through "bureaucratic red tape".[106]
After the Associated Press published a story about the incident, the State Senate's Government Operations and Audit Committee was delegated to investigate.[110] In October 2021, the Committee invited Hultman and Bren to come before them to discuss the appraisal program in light of the controversy.[111][112] On December 14, 2021, Bren testified before the Government Operations and Audit Committee.[108] She said that Peters received an Agreed Disposition around March/April 2020. Around July 20, 2020, Peters received a letter and/or Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law when she failed to meet the requirements of the Agreed Disposition. Bren said that on July 26, Department of Labor attorney Amber Mulder told her to be prepared to discuss "what is the definition of a serious deficiency; what criteria do you use for denials; how many are denied each year; how many are approved; are we saying that Kassidy can take certain classes and resubmit".[108]
Bren said she felt "very nervous" and "intimidated" when meeting with Noem and attorneys and Labor Secretary Hultman.[113] Bren mentioned during the meeting at the mansion some appraisal classes that she thought would be helpful to Peters. Bren said that Noem was upset that she was just now hearing about the classes. Bren testified that the decision to depart from recognized upgrade procedures and offer a third opportunity would be Hultman's. Bren said this was beyond the recognized procedures and "not normal."[108]
On November 1, 2021, the Government Accountability Board set an agenda to discuss this issue and another issue based on complaints brought by Ravnsborg.[114] On December 15, 2021, the Government Accountability Board referred one of the two complaints to Noem for a response and sent the other back to the complainant for further information.[115] On February 3, 2022, the Government Accountability Board referred the second complaint to Noem for a response and gave her until April 15, 2022, to answer both pending complaints.[116][117]
On February 24, 2022, Republican State Representative John Mills introduced House Resolution 7004, "Addressing the Governor's unacceptable actions in matters related to the appraiser certification program", against Noem.[118] On March 1, the resolution was debated and failed by a margin of 29 to 38 with three excused, including Noem's primary opponent Steven Haugaard and U.S. House candidate Taffy Howard.[119]
Misunderstanding with Native American tribes
In 2024, it was reported that all nine tribes of South Dakota banned Noem from entering any tribal lands, prohibiting her from entering almost 20% of South Dakota.[120] Other media reported that one of the nine tribes, the Yankton Sioux, had not officially banned Noem.[121] The Oglala Sioux banned Noem in February, followed by the Cheyenne River Sioux, the Standing Rock Sioux, and the Rosebud Sioux in April, and the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, the Crow Creek Sioux, and the Flandreau Santee Sioux in May.[121]
The tribes took action after demanding that Noem apologize for her comments about them.[122] In January 2024, Noem said that an "invasion is coming over the southern border" of the United States, and the "enemy is the Mexican drug cartels", which are "perpetrating violence in each of our states, even here in South Dakota ... The cartels are using our reservations to facilitate the spread of drugs throughout the Midwest."[123] In March 2024, Noem said there were "some tribal leaders that I believe are personally benefiting from the cartels being there", but gave no evidence, and that there were people "who actually live in those situations, who call me and text me every day and say, 'Please, dear governor, please come help us in Pine Ridge. We are scared.'"[124][125] She added: "they live with 80% to 90% unemployment. Their kids don't have any hope. They don't have parents who show up and help them."[122]
Around January 2025, Noem apologized to the tribes for the misunderstanding between them, and the Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe dissolved its order banning Noem from its land.[126] The tribe said, "the Governor has shown us that she is committed to protecting the people of South Dakota including the citizens of the nine Tribal Nations, who share mutual borders with the state", and expressed its support for her nomination as the Secretary of Homeland Security.[126]
COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic in South Dakota, Noem was at first open to containment strategies.[127][128] Over the following months, she segued to a hands-off approach. In November 2020, Noem used pandemic relief funds to promote tourism during a surge in cases in the state.[129] She did not implement face mask mandates, raised doubts about the efficacy of mask-wearing, encouraged large gatherings without social distancing or mask-wearing, and questioned public health experts' advice.[130][131]
As of December 2020, Noem was one of few governors who had not maintained statewide stay-at-home orders or face-mask mandates.[132][133] Her response mirrored Trump's rhetoric and handling of COVID-19.[131][134] She was rewarded for her COVID-19 response with a speech at the August 2020 Republican National Convention, which elevated her national profile.[134][135] The Argus Leader called the RNC speech a "defining moment in her political career".[136]
Early in the pandemic, Noem requested that the legislature pass a bill giving the state health secretary and county officials the power to close businesses and other entities.[127] The House rejected the bill.[128] On March 13, 2020, Noem ordered K-12 schools to close,[137][138] and on April 6, she extended that order for the remainder of the school year.[139][140] Also on April 6, Noem ordered businesses and local governments to practice social distancing and other CDC guidelines.[140][141]
Early on, Noem also emphasized South Dakota's role in evaluating hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that Trump had touted as a cure for COVID-19.[142] It was never been shown to be useful in treating COVID-19 but can produce fatal cardiac arrhythmia.[143][144]
In early 2020 one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks in the U.S. occurred in South Dakota.[145] The Smithfield Foods production plant in Sioux Falls had four deaths, with nearly 1,300 workers and their family members testing positive.[146] Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar misinformed a group of legislators that meatpacking plants employees were unlikely to be infected at work, but that their "home and social" habits were spreading the contagion. Noem may have been the first officeholder to publicly express that view.[147]
On April 13, 2020, of an outbreak where hundreds of workers had tested positive at a Smithfield pork plant, she told Fox News, "We believe that 99 percent of what's going on today wasn't happening inside the facility". The industry didn't explain the deaths from COVID-19 of USDA food-safety inspectors from three plants. Almost 200 inspectors contracted symptomatic COVID-19.[147]
In the pandemic's early days, the Food Safety and Inspection Service did not provide protective equipment to its monitors, forbidding them from wearing masks in the slaughterhouses as it feared that might accentuate the risks. On April 9, 2020, the agency said its inspectors would be allowed to wear masks if the meatpacking plants' owners gave the federal employees permission to do so. Inspectors were expected to supply their own masks.[147] A month later, after publication of the risk of spreading the virus, the USDA started giving its inspectors masks.[147] Noem had said that the plant was in full operation as an essential food manufacturing facility.[148] Forty-eight of Smithfield's workers were hospitalized.[149] On April 6, 2020, Noem issued an executive order that said people "shall" follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;[150] she also ordered everyone over age 65 in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties to stay home for three weeks.[151][152]
Noem did not mandate social distancing or the wearing of face masks at a July 3, 2020, event at Mount Rushmore with Trump present. Health experts warned that large gatherings without social distancing or mask-wearing posed a risk to public health.[153] Noem publicly doubted scientific recommendations on the usefulness of masks.[154] In an opinion piece in the Rapid City Journal, she defended her views, citing analysis by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a group known for promoting pseudoscience.[154] The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons had called vaccination the equivalent of "human experimentation."[155]
COVID cases increased drastically in South Dakota after the 2020 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally,[156] in which Noem participated.[157] COVID-19 patients hospitalized in South Dakota on October 22, 2020, reached a record high of 355, including 75 in Intensive Care Units. South Dakota's two largest hospital systems rescheduled elective procedures to increase available space and personnel to accommodate the surge. In the absence of a statewide mask mandate, hospital systems urged people to wear masks while in the company of those outside their own households. Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken advised his constituents, "Wear a dang mask."[154]
Sixteen weeks after Trump's 2020 executive order that provided enhanced weekly unemployment benefits of $300 as part of the U.S. federal government response to the pandemic, Noem opted out of the program, citing a low state unemployment rate.[158] South Dakota was the only state to refuse the assistance.[159] Its jobless rate in June was 7.2%, up from 3.1% in March, though down from 10.9% in April.[149] Acceptance of the funding required the state to augment the benefit by $100 unless other jobless assistance allowed the match to be waived.[159]
From 2020 to 2021, the following events took place:
- Noem supported the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August 2020, despite warnings from experts that it could spread COVID-19.[160] Nearly 500,000 bikers attended the event.[161] Public health notices were issued for saloons and other businesses in the Sturgis area. By the end of August, dozens of cases linked to attendance at the event were reported in several states.[162][163][164]
- In September 2020, amid a surge of new cases, Noem announced that she would spend $5 million of relief funding on a state tourism campaign.[129] She used $819,000 of those funds to have the state's Department of Tourism run a 30-second Fox News commercial she had narrated during the 2020 Republican National Convention.[165]
- During September 2020, over 550 students became infected at South Dakota universities; 200 more cases were reported in K–12 schools.[149]
- In October 2020, as South Dakota reported the country's second-highest number of new COVID-19 cases per capita and hospitals began to prioritize treatment of severe COVID-19 cases over lesser ones, Noem said the higher case numbers were because of more testing, despite the positive test rate and hospitalization rate also increasing.[166]
- In February 2021, Noem signed a bill limiting civil liability for certain exposures to COVID-19. The bill exempted healthcare providers and other businesses, including those selling personal protective equipment, from lawsuits unless COVID-19 exposure resulted from gross negligence, recklessness, or willful misconduct.[167]
- Also in February 2021, Noem announced her opposition to a bill prohibiting schools and universities from requiring students to get vaccinated.[168] In May, she signed an executive order prohibiting government facilities from requiring proof of vaccination to access services, a policy she called "un-American".[169] In August, Noem opposed legislation proposed by Republican state legislators Jon Hansen and Scott Odenbach that would prohibit businesses from requiring vaccinations as a condition for employment.[170]
- In July 2021, Noem criticized other Republican governors for enacting mandatory measures against COVID-19 and trying to "rewrite history" about it.[171] She argued that South Dakota had effectively combated the pandemic by instead testing and isolating cases. South Dakota had the 10th-highest death rate and third-highest case rate at that time.[171]
Department of Corrections
In July 2021, Noem placed Secretary of the Department of Corrections Mike Liedholt on administrative leave, and fired South Dakota State Penitentiary Warden Darin Young and Deputy Warden Jennifer Dreiske, after receiving an anonymous note with complaints regarding pay, medical coverage and instances of sexual harassment.[172][173] Liedholt later announced his retirement.[174] Later that month, after meeting with prison employees, despite lingering COVID-19 cases, Noem ended the prison's mask mandate.[175]
In August 2021, Noem announced that the CGL Group, a California-based company, was hired for $166,410 to comprehensively review the Department of Corrections operations.[176] At the same time, the director of the prison work program was fired, and two other DOC employees relieved of their duties.
The prison work program director, Stephany Bawek, subsequently filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleging that she was retaliated against for reporting sexual harassment by Young.[177] On March 14, 2022, Bawek filed a lawsuit in federal district court alleging that she was fired for reporting incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace.[178][179]
Deployment of South Dakota National Guard to southern border (2021)
In June 2021, Noem announced that she was sending members of the South Dakota National Guard to Texas's border with Mexico.[180] Tennessee billionaire Willis Johnson and his wife Reba said they would donate the money necessary for the deployment.[181] On September 22, 2021, the Center for Public Integrity sued the South Dakota National Guard and the U.S. Department of Defense in the federal district court in the District of Columbia to obtain documents about the deployment and the donation.[182] The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act banned National Guard members from crossing state borders to perform duties paid for by private donors.[183]
Fireworks at Mount Rushmore lawsuit (2021)
In 2021, Noem sued U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, seeking to have fireworks at Mount Rushmore for Independence Day. Fireworks displays had been halted at the site in 2009 by the National Park Service due to fire risks and other reasons.[184][185] Noem hired the private Washington D.C. law firm Consovoy McCarthy to bring the case, with South Dakota state taxpayer money paying for the suit.[186] The U.S. District Court dismissed the suit, with Judge Roberto Lange finding that four of the five reasons given by the NPS and Secretary Haaland were valid.[187] On July 13, Noem filed an appeal with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.[188]
On March 14, 2022, the National Park Service again denied Noem's application for a permit to have fireworks at Mount Rushmore for the 4th of July, citing opposition from Native American groups and the possibility of wildfires.[189]
Governor's mansion spending
In May 2019, Noem proposed to build a fence around the governor's mansion, estimated to cost approximately $400,000, but retracted the proposal.[190][191] In 2020, the 2019 project was revived; a senior Noem advisor told the media that the decision was based on the recommendations of Noem's security team.[192] In late November 2021, it was reported that Noem spent $68,000 of taxpayer dollars on imported rugs from India, chandeliers and a sauna for the mansion.[193]