DEL RIO, Texas — Kristi Noem will visit the Texas-Mexico border this weekend for the first time since being confirmed as the homeland security secretary under President Donald Trump, according to federal officials.
Noem, who served as South Dakota’s governor from 2019 to 2025, was confirmed Jan. 25 and will visit Del Rio on Saturday to meet with Customs and Border Protection, review operations and tour the border that’s been a focus of Trump ever since he entered the political arena in his first term.
Her visit comes as the Pentagon is also preparing to send around 500 additional service members, mostly from the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division, to help secure the border, according to CBS News.
Noem, 53, is the eighth secretary of homeland security. She’s tasked with delivering on Trump’s favorite issue of border security. She has so far pledged to faithfully execute the president’s orders and copied his talk of an “invasion” at the U.S. border with Mexico.
She joined other Republican governors who sent National Guard troops to Texas to assist in Operation Lone Star. Her decision was especially criticized because she accepted a $1 million donation from a Tennessee billionaire to cover some of the deployment cost.
She said she opted to send National Guard troops “because of the invasion,” adding that “it is a war zone down there.”
Trump’s return to the White House has emboldened state leaders to ask for more help in security the border, something Gov. Greg Abbott repeatedly blasted the Biden administration for, in his eyes, failing to do. In the days after President Trump’s inauguration, Abbott asked Congress to reimburse Texas billions of dollars for Operation Lone Star, saying the money would cover the costs of stepping up border security, apprehending undocumented immigrants, staffing the border and transporting migrants to their countries of origin.
Next up in 5
Example video title will go here for this video
Next up in 5
Example video title will go here for this video
In Other News
Français 
English