As Americans’ “first line of defense,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will pursue all legal avenues for keeping the United States safe, Secretary Kristi Noem said on Jan. 28.
“I tell people, we have jurisdiction over everything, and we will exercise all legal authorities that we have to protect this country because it is the only last light of freedom left,” Noem said, addressing department personnel for the first time.
“We woke up this morning more blessed than 99 percent of the people in this country because we woke up in the United States of America. We woke up in a country where we get to exercise our freedoms, and that responsibility has been laid at our feet. And I know that the people in this room and the people of this department are up to the challenge and up to the task.”
The Senate confirmed Noem as DHS secretary on Jan. 26, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas swore her in hours later. She is the eighth person to hold the office.
Noem takes the helm at a high-pressure time for the department. Tasked with overseeing President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown, the former South Dakota governor will be responsible for delivering on one of his top campaign promises: the largest deportation operation in American history.
Noem said that Trump picked her for the job because she asked for it.
“I said, ‘I would like to be the Secretary of Homeland Security, Sir, because it’s your No. 1 priority. And I love my job as governor of South Dakota. I love my home and my family. I would not leave them to spend time away unless I was doing something of significance,’” Noem said.
She said she will do everything in her power to ensure that department staff were well-equipped to carry out their mission.
“That is my commitment to all of you, that we will walk through every single situation together, and I’ll prepare you as much as I can for it, and we’ll have the flexibility to make sure that we can always keep the American people first and foremost.”
The secretary’s remarks came hours after she led an early morning immigration enforcement operation in New York that resulted in at least one arrest.
“Criminal alien with kidnapping, assault & burglary charges is now in custody—thanks to @ICE,” Noem wrote on X. “Dirtbags like this will continue to be removed from our streets.”
Trump is expected to hold a signing ceremony at the White House on Jan. 29 for the Laken Riley Act. The new law will require federal officials to detain illegal immigrants arrested or charged with such crimes as theft, burglary, shoplifting, assaulting a police officer, or crimes that injure or kill someone.
The bill will be the first Trump signs in his new administration.
