Gov. Noem Holds Press Conference on the Southern Border

Well, good morning. It's great to see all of you. We wanted to come and have a quick chat and conversation. I wanted to thank the legislature for hosting a joint session yesterday that gave me an opportunity to give them a briefing on the southern border, the invasion that we see coming in that war zone, and really what the situation was here in South Dakota. As all of you know, that over the last three years we've deployed our South Dakota National Guard to be in assistance to Texas and the federal government down there to help secure the border three different times. The first time three years ago, we deployed National Guard that ended up being 60 days established down there. And then again, when they were deployed, it was with the Lakota helicopters to conduct surveillance of drug operations that was at the request of the Biden administration. When they deployed again this last summer, it was a 30-day commitment and our guard was proud to go and help support the efforts to stop that invasion. I went back last week on Friday and observed again what the changes were in light of the current situation. We have seen and heard about the influx of migrants that are coming illegally into the country. And in December, broke records in the amount of people that crossed in just one month. I think over 300,000 different individuals came into this country. And since the beginning of the Biden administration, almost 10 million people have entered this country. I want to remind everybody that that is larger than the size of almost 30 of our states in this country. So it is a significant population that is breaking federal law, being facilitated by the Biden administration that we need to be aware of here in South Dakota. People ask why I decided to have a joint session and it was because of a very dynamic situation that will impact us dramatically. Two different reasons. Number one is that we may be asked for help from Texas. I know other states have already responded. We've had other states and other governors that have already committed National Guard troops again. I have not done that yet. But I also know that last time we deployed troops, we got a lot of questions from legislators. And so I wanted to have the conversation with them ahead of time. I recognize that when we pull our National Guard soldiers out of their homes and away from their families, that comes at a cost to them. That when we pull those National Guard soldiers out of their communities, that community feels that hole and it's an impact to them as well. And so for us, I want the legislators, I want the people of South Dakota to know that this could be asked of us in the future. And I as commander in chief may be faced with that decision on if we're going to send soldiers again. And we'll make a wise decision that's well informed. But I wanted them to know that that could be a potential decision that we'll have to face in the coming months. I also have asked Governor Abbott in Texas what he is going to be asking us for. He has been asking us for resources potentially, nothing really specific, but also support in litigation. We saw a challenge in federal court over razor wire that they have. And some of the decisions that were made by the Biden administration in court, I disagreed with. What Texas showed me when I was at the border was that what they had constructed was actually working. That what they had constructed and using that shipping containers, panels and razor wire was actually stopping even the able-bodied military aged men from coming into the country. It was extremely effective. And then when the federal government saw how effective it was, that that was when they took them to court to get them to take it down. That was alarming to me and it's alarming to the Texas public safety officials that are there and to the National Guard as well. The other thing that I saw was Democrats across the country encouraging the president to federalize our National Guard troops. People in South Dakota need to be aware that if that is an option that the president pursues, that by activating our guard troops under Title X, that would eventually and essentially be the first time in American history, I believe, that I've been able to see that we had a president actually activate soldiers to stand down, to not protect the United States of America. That's a direct threat to our state's rights to defend ourselves. And that's something I wanted all of our legislators to be on the same page with, people to understand that the changing situation we have now is that we have a federal government that is threatening our state's rights and that we may need to make a decision on what we do to ensure that we're able to protect our people. The reality is, is that we do have the Mexican cartels, which are the biggest threat right now to the crime and corruption, the drugs and the trafficking that we're seeing. And they do have a presence here in South Dakota. I think they have been here for many years. We've been aware of them. They're also, though we see them, gangs affiliated with them that have established themselves here in South Dakota as well, and they have been successful at different times recruiting tribal members to be a part of their activities. We know that drugs are being filtered through our tribal reservations, that the members and the community members there have been asking for help for years. When I was in Congress, I asked Jeff Sessions, who was Attorney General at the time, for help getting law and order to our tribal reservations. I went back when Bill Barr was the Attorney General and asked for them to intervene and to help bring peace to these communities so that when we get law and order, we could then pursue economic development and really give people the opportunity for hope. Now again, I'm asking the Department of Justice to take action and have made that request several times. Many of our tribal leaders, I've told them I would go to Washington, D.C. with them and sit in that room asking for more tribal law and order help and funding. We also have seen now that the Oglala Sioux, the Pine Ridge, have put forward some litigation suing the federal government to fulfill their responsibilities under treaty obligations in order to adequately bring law enforcement officials and funding so that they can protect their communities, and I support them in that. These are all different options that we have to deal with the invasion and how we're impacted by it, but make no mistake, fentanyl deaths in South Dakota are rising. Our law enforcement officers see more and more drugs and trafficking through the state all the time. The vast majority of that is coming over this open border, and that we see a lot of state programs that in the future will have to deal with the ramifications and the consequences of that, and we in this state have always embraced law and order. We've always been a state that recognizes the importance of that, and to have a federal government that's not following the law is alarming. We will have big decisions ahead of us. Yesterday's joint session was wonderful for us to all be on the same page. I wanted all of these legislators to have the same information that I have so that as we move forward, we could move forward united, and I think that was a wonderful opportunity and grateful for the leadership that they showed in passing a resolution acknowledging the change of what we have going on at the southern border as well. So with that, we've got lots of things moving during legislative session. You can sure ask me questions about different things related to that as well, but we'll start with Austin. Do you have a question? Yes, Governor. Austin Coach Scout. It's my understanding this morning that you had a meeting with Representative Poirier about sort of a disagreement regarding a remark made during the address yesterday and the presence of a ghost riders gang on the reservations. Could you kind of speak to how that meeting went and maybe what came out of it? I did. We had a fantastic meeting. I met with Representative Poirier and with Representative Tordson about some language in the speech that I used in specific reference to the ghost dancers gang affiliated with the Bandidos with ties to the Mexican cartels. So, you know, I understand that some of the words they would have appreciated being changed. Problem is I didn't name that gang. I did speak truth and everything I said was absolutely true and I've been working for years to build relationships with our tribes. That's one of the things that we spent most of our time talking about in our meeting that we had this morning was the need for relationship. And she said with our tribes and what they live with every day, they need to have a relationship with state government. And we gave her information on all the times that we reach out, the different agreements and then covenants that we have with other tribes, the work that we do together. But I also said specifically for the Oglala Sioux tribe that I have been working for years to build relationships there, that I would absolutely love to go back to Pine Ridge and meet with their tribal leadership. That almost every month they have a tribal council meeting where they debate lifting the ban on me going there and spending time there. What most people don't realize is that when I first got elected to be governor, I went there all the time. I was there several times a month and we were working on suicide prevention. We were working on drug addiction. And it wasn't until we had a community meeting where a member stood up and said, Governor Noem, I hear lots of bad things about you and I believe them, but you're coming here so much now I'm starting to think that you care. And it was shortly after that meeting that I was banned from the tribe. So I am still continuing to reach out on a weekly basis and make sure that I am letting them know I would love to come and build relationships with our tribes. I would love to know them and spend time with them. I've invited them here multiple times and asked them to participate in conversation. I informed Representative Poirier that I'm not the one with a stiff arm here. That I would absolutely love to build that relationship, but you can't build relationship with people if you don't spend time together. And that's what I've been asking to do. So she has my cell phone number. I asked her to pass it along to anybody who didn't have it. I've given the tribal leaders, the presidents, the chairman, they all have my personal cell phone number. And I've asked them multiple times to build that relationship. I would love to continue to do that. But the fact of the matter is that for years we've known that these gangs and this violence is there. And people don't talk about it, but it needs to be a truthful conversation on what can we do to work together better to make sure that people are safe and that we really do have law and order. Even in our poorest communities that are the most isolated, they need the help. Yes, Jonathan. You talked in speech about supporting litigation. You brought it up again. What does that look like from the state perspective? Paying legal fees, amicus briefs, what does that look like? You know, I think, well, with Pine Ridge, it certainly could be an amicus brief. That's what we're looking to see if we can, you know, as a state, walk alongside them in that lawsuit. I've told their leadership, their tribal council and their president before and our other chairman of our other tribes that if they were going to go to Washington, D.C. and sit with the federal government and ask for help on getting more tribal officers, getting more funding for law and order efforts, getting more funding for even education or their roads. We all know that our road funding in tribal areas is underfunded. That I would sit there with them. I would go with them and be an advocate alongside of them. So that invitation's been open for years. I hope they take advantage of it. Yes. Thanks for joining us, Governor. Appreciate the response you had from Austin's question. Just to piggyback off that, there were some of the tribal members in the legislature who felt like your speech yesterday, you were blaming the reservations for the drug problem. So I hope you could characterize that. And then secondly, I had a question about the role that the National Guard has played in the two deployments where we actually had troops on the ground. What were they doing? And you seemed to imply that you would want a change in the rules of engagement to let them do perhaps more. So can you characterize what duties they were performing in these two previous deployments? Well, in answer to your first question, what I would say that absolutely is not what I was doing. In fact, by stating that I was going to walk alongside the Oglala Sioux in their lawsuit against the federal government was telling me I was supporting their efforts. Because they have an issue with crimes and violence and me talking about it doesn't place blame with them. It says that I'm going to support them and all the actions that they're taking to rectify that as well. And we're going to continue to reach out. We talked this morning quite a bit about with other tribes we have law enforcement agreements, where our law enforcement at the state level will come into tribal areas and will enforce tribal law, that we have those partnerships with other tribes. We would love to do that in Pine Ridge and in other areas. Come in. We don't come in and enforce state law in tribal lands. We come in and enforce their laws and just assist them with that. And we'd love to do an agreement like that. So we had the chance to discuss that. So by me pointing out the fact that they have a problem and that they're taking action by asking more help from the federal government who has that treaty responsibility, I think speaking the truth is important. I've had these discussions with the representatives before. I think that it's time that the whole public knows that the federal government is failing our tribes. And I will boldly continue to do that. You asked about what our soldiers do at the southern border when they're deployed. They do effective work. And they have on the other deployments that they've been there. They certainly are able to identify and stop and turn over to law enforcement officials, those who are trafficking drugs, those who are trafficking human beings. If they find people that have criminal activities that they encounter, that certainly has been an result of their deployments down there. A lot of times they've been deployed to do observation, to help with surveillance. So what they would do is watch when there was activity and people coming across the border. They would be the ones who would then notify border patrol that we have illegals crossing and the border patrol would come and encounter them or turn them over to NGOs who then at times were just facilitating their entry. So I think that was the frustrating part of seeing those deployments is that there were certain instances where our soldiers would encounter someone who was crossing the border illegally, where they felt like they were facilitating that entry. The protocol and the rules of engagement stated that they then turned those individuals over to border patrol, who then turned them over to NGOs and nonprofits, who then deployed them or relocated them somewhere in the country. And we knew that they were just given an opportunity to come into the country and spend time here illegally until their court date was due. So that's what I had a conversation with the Texas governor about was what will be different this time. Because you were standing on Texas ground, and essentially that was the message they conveyed to me last week when I was down at the border, is all we did in this park was take back Texas land. All we did is say this is America and we should have people here who were from America, citizens of America, and Texas took back their land. And it was amazing to see the change in that park. That border patrol was no longer allowed there. ICE was no longer allowed there. It was just Texas running that park and there was nobody entering the country illegally there. So it is possible. The example was powerful. And I wanted to know how we could assist that kind of an effort rather than assist the effort of what the federal government is doing by just ushering people into the country illegally. Just to follow up, Governor, what is it that you think the South Dakota National Guard should be able to do there? You know, I think that if they can help facilitate Texas's efforts and we have legal standing to really take control of that border and do it in a way that's in a partnership that doesn't allow people to enter our country illegally, that would be powerful. So that's some of the discussion that we're having as states. As you know, there's 25 different governors that have committed to support Texas in this defense of states' rights, which is a constitutional right that we have. Having the discussions on how we do that wisely I think is incredibly important. We see that some governors have already deployed their National Guard and are already sending them. I have not done that yet and I have not committed to that. That is something that we may do, but I also want to look at other ways that we can do it more effectively. And if there is litigation that we can take and legal action that we can take, I think that should be pursued as well. Governor, a DPS official testified to Appropriations Committee earlier this week that every other mutual aid type agreement that we have with other states like this is reimbursed, but not the one with Texas. Why is that? I wouldn't say that every other one in history has been, but there are times where there's agreements and some are reimbursed by other states and some aren't. We knew before we deployed our Guard to the border in these engagements that we were not going to get reimbursed by Texas. If you look at the amount of dollars that Texas has spent in protection of the southern border, which is a federal government responsibility, it's over $4 billion. And so they were very clear, you can come and help us, but this will be a financial responsibility that you as a state will need to take on. So those two previous deployments that we paid for, we knew we were going to have to pay for them as a state before we sent those Guard. And it is one of the considerations that I'm looking at as well before we decide to send Guard again. You told me yesterday that you saw a text of the U.S. security border deal. Folks with Senator Lankford's office says it's not possible. So how have you seen the text of this bill? I haven't. I didn't tell you I saw the actual written text of it that I saw a summary of it. You said I told you I saw the original bill? Yeah. I don't believe I did believe it. If I did, then I misspoke. I did not. But I did see several sections of it as it was being drafted and definitely saw the language and what the spirit of the element was that was being debated and discussed. And remember, I spent eight years on Capitol Hill. I got a lot of friends that serve in the Senate and friends that serve in Congress that are willing to share language with me. But no, I did not see the complete bill. And if I said that yesterday, I misspoke. Original, not complete. Okay. Should we expect any policy decisions from you or any policy proposals? The bill deadline was yesterday, but Representative Mordenson said he might be willing to allow some special circumstances in that process. None that I can speak of today. Nothing that has been decided yet. Anything on those? Let's take one on the line and see. Who's on the line? This is Jack Thurow with the Associated Press. Okay. Yep. How do you think your agenda has fared this session, such as issues defining anti-Semitism, seeking a permanent sales tax cut, second chance licensing for people with criminal histories, et cetera? So you're asking how my agenda is going? I think we got a lot of good things here this year that are doing very well. We're glad to see the legislature working so well together. We've got great leadership in the House and the Senate that we're working with on all of those issues. So we've got progress on foreign-owned ag land and a bill that's coming together, one that is dealing with private property rights and economic development. I think it'll be interesting to see how that gets to my desk. We've got other policies that we're continuing to work on. And for me, one of the important ones that we don't have a lot of agreement on yet, but we're still working on is how we're going to get our teachers more money. And that is something that's important to me since I've been governor. We've increased funding to schools after this year, after the 4% increase that the legislature will adopt. We've increased that funding by 26%, which is a lot of dollars going to our school districts. I'd love to see a solution we can all come together on to make sure that actually goes to teachers in the classroom. I think it's important we have some accountability going forward. And that's one of the things we're continuing to work with the legislature on. All right. Thank you, everybody.