An Indian tribe in South Dakota ended persecution Republican Governor Kristi Noem in a letter Wednesday, offering his support for her nomination to serve as secretary of homeland security, Fox News Digital has learned.
Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribal Chairman Tony Reider wrote a letter to Noem on Wednesday informing her that the tribe’s executive committee had voted to “remove the ban” imposed on Noem in May and congratulating her on her nomination to serve in President-elect Trump’s cabinet.
The letter comes just days before Noem was scheduled to appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for her confirmation hearing.
“I commend your nomination by President-elect Donald Trump to be Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security and hereby support your nomination. I wish you the best of luck during your Senate confirmation hearing on January 17, 2025, and I believe that your commitment to the safety and security of of the United States to benefit us all,” Reider’s letter read, according to a copy obtained by Fox News Digital.
SOUTH DAKOTA GOV NOEMU BANNED FROM TRIBAL RESERVATION DUE TO OBJECTIONS AT US SOUTHERN BORDER
Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota and President-elect Trump’s nominee for secretary of homeland security, arrives for a meeting with Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., not pictured, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on December 11, 2024. (Getty Images)
All nine of them native tribes in South Dakota banned Noem from its reserves last year after outrage over her claims that tribal leaders were benefiting from cartels and the immigration crisis and comments regarding the future of indigenous children. The Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe was the last tribe to ban it.
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“Their kids don’t have any hope. They don’t have parents to show up and help them. They have a tribal council or a president who focuses on a political agenda more than they care about actually helping to make someone’s life look better,” Noem said last year in a comment that drew criticism from the tribe.
Reider addressed the issue in his letter to Noem Wednesday, explaining that the governor apologized for her previous remarks and explained her comment.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem speaks before former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, takes the stage during the Buckeye Values PAC rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)
“One of the provisions contained in the expulsion resolution was to apologize for comments made regarding tribal members and the education of tribal members’ children that some found offensive. In several meetings before and after the resolution was passed, you not only explained your position, but apologized if the comments offended the tribe. You additionally sought advice on how to frame such communications further, which the tribe and I appreciated,” Reider wrote.
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Badlands National Park in South Dakota (Bernie Friel/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The letter arrives as Noem prepares for it Senate confirmation hearing Friday morning.
Trump announced Noem as his pick to head DHS shortly after decisive victory over Kamala Harrisciting the Republican governor’s efforts to secure the southern border, which has been inundated with illegal crossings under the Biden administration.
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in months since her nominationNoem has received support from at least eight police groups or unions, including the union that represents thousands of Border Patrol agents.
Louisiana Republican Governor Jeff Landry he also urged Senate lawmakers, primarily Democrats, to quickly confirm Noem after the terrorist attack that rocked New Orleans on New Year’s Day.
The International Association of Firefighters, a large, historically Democratic firefighters union, also recently endorsed Noem, asserting during the raging Los Angeles wildfires that she “understands emergency management and the importance of government response to emergencies, both natural and man-made.”
