(ReliableNews.org) – South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) rose to popularity in her party during the national health crisis when she refused to put any stay-at-home orders in place. Former President Donald Trump recently named her as one of the people on his vice presidential shortlist. However, she isn’t popular with everyone.
On February 2, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out announced he was banning Noem from the tribe’s reservation. The decision came after the governor called the immigration at the southern border an “invasion” and promised to send security personnel and razor wire to Texas. She also claimed illegal immigration was hurting reservations.
Star Comes Out noted his tribal lands were sovereign and under the protection of the US government, not South Dakota. He argued that Noem’s use of the word “invasion” is incorrect under the Constitution’s Compact Clause. He accused the governor of painting the immigration issue, which Star Comes Out claimed was the result of both parties, as a crisis so “former President Donald Trump [can] use it as a campaign issue to get” him reelected. He claims she thinks it would “increase her chances of being selected by [him] to be his running mate” in the 2024 election.
Noem responded to Star Comes Out and said she has repeatedly visited the reservation to work on various issues. She said it was “unfortunate” that the tribe’s president “chose to bring politics into a discussion” about President Joe Biden’s failure to secure the border.
The governor said Mexican cartels have brought human trafficking and drugs into the state. She claimed tribal lands were getting the worst of the problem. She promised to keep working with the tribes in her state to solve problems and make lives better for everyone but made it clear she wouldn’t back down on the border issue.
Star Comes Out shared the governor’s response and called on the tribe to “unite and continue to fight for equal rights.”
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