Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem promised to work carefully with employees in conserving the American folks ‘before everything.’
As Individuals’ “first line of protection,” the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) will pursue all authorized avenues for conserving the US secure, Secretary Kristi Noem stated on Jan. 28.
“I inform folks, we’ve got jurisdiction over all the pieces, and we are going to train all authorized authorities that we’ve got to guard this nation as a result of it’s the solely final gentle of freedom left,” Noem stated, addressing division personnel for the primary time.
“We awakened this morning extra blessed than 99 % of the folks on this nation as a result of we awakened in the US of America. We awakened in a rustic the place we get to train our freedoms, and that accountability has been laid at our toes. And I do know that the folks on this room and the folks of this division are as much as the problem and as much as the duty.”
The Senate confirmed Noem as DHS secretary on Jan. 26, and U.S. Supreme Courtroom Justice Clarence Thomas swore her in hours later. She is the eighth individual to carry the workplace.
Noem takes the helm at a high-pressure time for the division. Tasked with overseeing President Donald Trump’s unlawful immigration crackdown, the previous South Dakota governor shall be liable for delivering on one in every of his high marketing campaign guarantees: the biggest deportation operation in American historical past.
Noem stated that Trump picked her for the job as a result of she requested for it.
“I stated, ‘I want to be the Secretary of Homeland Safety, Sir, as a result of it’s your No. 1 precedence. And I really like my job as governor of South Dakota. I really like my house and my household. I might not depart them to spend time away until I used to be doing one thing of significance,’” Noem stated.
She stated she is going to do all the pieces in her energy to make sure that division employees have been well-equipped to hold out their mission.
“That’s my dedication to all of you, that we are going to stroll via each single scenario collectively, and I’ll put together you as a lot as I can for it, and we’ll have the flexibleness to make it possible for we are able to all the time preserve the American folks before everything.”
The secretary’s remarks got here hours after she led an early morning immigration enforcement operation in New York that resulted in not less than one arrest.
“Felony alien with kidnapping, assault & housebreaking expenses is now in custody—due to @ICE,” Noem wrote on X. “Dirtbags like this may proceed to be faraway from our streets.”
Trump is predicted to carry a signing ceremony on the White Home on Jan. 29 for the Laken Riley Act. The brand new legislation would require federal officers to detain unlawful immigrants arrested or charged with such crimes as theft, housebreaking, shoplifting, assaulting a police officer, or crimes that injure or kill somebody.
The invoice would be the first Trump indicators in his new administration.