Kristi Noem was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as President Donald Trump's Homeland Security secretary on Saturday, putting into position a key member of the Republican's Cabinet as he launches a wide-ranging immigration crackdown.
Noem, who was governor of South Dakota, shares Trump's hardline immigration views and called illegal immigration an "invasion" during a confirmation hearing earlier this month.
She was confirmed by a vote of 59 to 34 in the Republican-led Senate.
Trump recaptured the White House promising to deport record numbers of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, criticizing Democratic former President Joe Biden for high levels of illegal immigration during his presidency.
Trump issued an array of executive orders after taking office on Jan. 20 that aim to tighten border security and power his deportation drive, and has rolled out a raft of restrictive policies.
Noem will take over the 260,000-employee U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees border security, deportations and legal immigration paperwork, as well as emergency response, cybersecurity and the U.S. Coast Guard and Secret Service.
While she served as governor of a state closer to Canada than Mexico, Noem deployed dozens of South Dakota National Guard troops to assist the Republican-led state of Texas with border security in recent years, including one controversial deployment in 2021 funded by a Republican billionaire.
"It is a war zone down there," Noem said of the border during her Jan. 17 confirmation hearing.
When asked during the hearing how the Trump administration would handle workers without legal status in the agricultural sector, Noem said the administration would focus on criminal offenders and people with final deportation orders but did not say farm workers would be protected.
Noem's family ranch has hired dozens of temporary farm workers since 2015, U.S. government records show, listing her brother as the owner. Some conservative groups say the use of temporary agricultural workers with guest visas undercuts wages and slows down technological adaptation.
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The Trump administration is considering a refugee cap of around 40,000 for the coming year, with the majority of spots reportedly allocated to white South Africans, signaling a significant shift in U.S. refugee policy.
When U.S. President Donald Trump phoned Norway’s finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, last month to discuss trade tariffs, he also inquired about the Nobel Peace Prize, Dagens Naeringsliv reported Thursday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte discussed on Thursday, the Russia-Ukraine war and global issues in a phone call ahead of Friday’s Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.
U.S. President Donald Trump expressed optimism on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to make a deal, suggesting that the threat of sanctions helped push Moscow toward seeking direct talks.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
A powerful eruption at Japan’s Shinmoedake volcano sent an ash plume more than 3,000 metres high on Sunday morning, prompting safety warnings from authorities.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
A resumption of Iraq’s Kurdish oil exports is not expected in the near term, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, despite an announcement by Iraq’s federal government a day earlier stating that shipments would resume immediately.
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck 56 kilometres east of Gorgan in northern Iran early Sunday morning, according to preliminary seismic data.
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Two people were injured in a shooting near a mosque in the Swedish city of Örebro on Friday, police said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would not negotiate on Ukraine’s behalf during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, stressing that Kyiv must decide whether to pursue any territorial swaps with Moscow.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov drew attention in Anchorage on Friday when he arrived for a high-profile summit between US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin wearing a vintage sweatshirt bearing the Soviet-era “CCCP” emblem.
King Charles III of Great Britain and Queen Camilla attended the 80th anniversary commemoration VJ Day in Britain on Friday.
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