MCALLEN, Texas (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s whirlwind tour of the U.S. border with Mexico on Monday was filled with climbing into military vehicles, visiting with troops and positioning herself as tough on an issue that’s sure to loom large in 2024 presidential debates.
The Republican governor flew to McAllen, Texas, to check in on the roughly 50 National Guard members who volunteered for a 30-day deployment. She heard how troops have encountered many children crossing and are eager to be stationed where even more people cross the border each night. By the end of the day, she had doubled down on border policy, saying she was considering extending the National Guard’s assignment for more months.
“The reality of it is astonishing,” Noem told The Associated Press after meeting with the troops. “What our soldiers are seeing is a porous border.”
The ambitious governor ’s first visit to the border gives her a chance to pick up where former President Donald Trump left off in making hard-line immigration measures a driving force of the Republican Party. Noem eagerly joined the political fight with President Joe Biden after a surge in border crossings, sending the South Dakota Guard members to aid Texas’ push to arrest people crossing the border illegally and charge them with state crimes.
“This is a national security threat behind us,” Noem said at a news conference near a border wall. “What we see happening behind us is an open border. The drugs that come into South Dakota come over this border.”
But the governor has also stepped into a border policy debate that has no easy answers. She described how National Guard members are eager to help with border security, but have also been thrust into an environment where it’s difficult to determine why people are crossing.
