Trump Has Made His Pick for the Department of Homeland Security

Rebecca has covered the flurry of cabinet nominations made by President-elect Donald Trump. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as secretary of state has been met with some intense reactions, but Mr. Trump made another pick late last night: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was asked to lead the Department of Homeland Security (via CNN): 

President-elect Donald Trump has selected South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as his next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, according to two people familiar with the selection. 

Noem will be tapped to take over the agency as two key immigration hardliners — Stephen Miller and Tom Homan — are slated to serve in senior roles, signaling Trump is serious about his promise to crack down on his immigration pledges. With his selection of Noem, Trump is ensuring a loyalist will head an agency he prioritizes and that is key to his domestic agenda. 

The department saw an immense amount of turmoil the last time Trump was in office. Then, DHS had five different leaders, only two of whom were Senate-confirmed. The agency has a $60 billion budget and hundreds of thousands of employees. 

Let’s see how the vetting process goes. Noem was rumored to be on the shortlist for Trump’s running mate this election cycle but got taken off after controversy arose regarding her book, where she admitted to shooting her dog, ‘Cricket,’ who she claimed was untrainable and had gone on a chicken-killing rampage. I doubt that’s going to derail anything, but you never know what gets discovered. 

Overall, the picks have been pretty solid. Regardless, the DHS needs a makeover and a renewed sense of what they should do on the border: protect it and assist in deporting illegal aliens.

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