GOP Governor Noem: We’re Not Accepting Settlement of Illegal Immigrants in South Dakota

South Dakota will not be accepting illegal immigrants that the administration of President Joe Biden is looking to resettle across the country citing safety and security concerns.

The state’s Republican Governor Kristi Noem told Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle,” that any illegal immigrants the Biden administration attempts to relocate are “not going to find a place here in South Dakota.”

“What I have determined by watching the actions of this president is that he is making America unsafe. These are people that are crossing our border illegally,” Noem, a fierce critic of the Democratic administration’s border policies said on Wednesday.

“We do not know who they are. Multiple news sources have told us that we have people on the terrorist watch list that are getting into this country this way, and they’re not going to find a place here in South Dakota,” she added.

Noem also released a statement on Twitter responding to the spiraling crisis at the US-Mexico border which has seen an unprecedented increase since Biden took office in January 2021.

“South Dakota won’t be taking any illegal immigrants that the Biden Administration wants to relocate. My message to illegal immigrants… call me when you’re an American,” said Noem.

The Republican governor maintained that she’s open to immigration — but only those that enter the country legally. She remains steadfast against those who come in illegally.

According to reports, the state is already home to an estimated 5,000 undocumented immigrants. Over the years, hundreds of unaccompanied immigrant children have also been released in South Dakota. 

Her comments came as the Biden administration seeks to fly illegal immigrants from the southern border to northern and coastal states for relocation in a bid to ease the strain currently faced by communities along the border.

Local media reported that there hasn’t been any direct request by the Biden administration to house migrants in the state, but the governor is “sending the message” that should one be made, it will be denied, according to Ian Fury, Noem’s spokesperson.

“Gov. Noem welcomes legal immigrants to South Dakota,” he added, noting that Noem’s comments “were not directed at non-citizens with legal status.”

Meanwhile, the Republican governor’s statement follows similar sentiments raised by other GOP lawmakers, who have called out Biden for not putting Americans first on his agenda — and further straining resources to accommodate illegal crossers while the coronavirus pandemic raves on.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, for example, has issued an executive order earlier this week, barring federal officials from placing or housing unaccompanied migrant children in the state, saying the move would displace South Carolina’s children who are also seeking foster care.

“South Carolina’s children must always be given first priority for placement into foster care and the State’s strained resources must be directed to addressing the needs of its children,” McMaster said. “Allowing the federal government to place an unlimited number of unaccompanied migrant children into our state’s child welfare system for an unspecified length of time is an unacceptable proposition. We’ve been down this road with the federal government before and the state usually ends up ‘on the hook,’” he said. 

“Sending unaccompanied migrant children from the border to states like South Carolina only makes the problem worse,” McMaster said.

“The Biden Administration needs to admit they have failed at our southern border because it is not up to the states to fix this problem that was caused by their incompetent policies,” he added.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds also turned down a federal request to accept illegal immigrants for resettlement in the state, saying the need to find homes for them “is the president’s problem.”

Reynolds said on Tuesday that her priority is the health and safety of Iowans and that the state doesn’t have facilities to house migrant children for the US Department of Health and Human Services. 

“We don’t have the facilities. We are not set-up to do that,” Reynolds said. “This is not our problem, this is the president’s problem.”

“He is the one that opened the borders. He needs to be responsible for this and he needs to stop this.”

On the other hand, Texas Gov. Greg Abbot also lashed at the Democratic administration for “releasing immigrants in South Texas that have been exposing Texans to Covid” as reports earlier noted that migrants at the southern border, who were released into the country reportedly tested positive for coronavirus. 

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was also reportedly not testing migrant children for the Covid-19 at border stations.

The influx of undocumented migrants at the southern border has reached over 300,000 apprehensions this year, according to Texas Rep. Chip Roy.

Roughly 22,000 of unaccompanied minors have also arrived at the border and are now under the custody of CBP and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Steeve Strange

Steeve is the CEO & Co-Founder of The Scoop.