Southern Border

Gov. Kristi Noem greets South Dakota National Guard soldiers in early October 2023 after their month-long deployment to the nation's southern border. (@GovKristiNoem/X)

National Guard soldiers return from $850,000 Texas border deployment

BY: - October 4, 2023

Fifty South Dakota National Guard soldiers from a unit based in Watertown have returned home after a month-long, $850,000 deployment to Eagle Pass, Texas. Ian Fury, spokesman for Gov. Kristi Noem, released some details of the deployment Wednesday after previously declining to divulge information during the deployment “for operational security reasons.”  The unit, Alpha Battery, […]

Gov. Kristi Noem with members of the South Dakota National Guard in Texas at the U.S.-Mexico border in September 2023. (Courtesy of the Governor's Office)

Details scant on Guard’s border deployment as Noem visits troops

BY: - September 26, 2023

Gov. Kristi Noem confirmed Tuesday that 50 South Dakota National Guard soldiers are on a previously announced deployment to the nation’s southern border, but she didn’t say what unit they’re from, how long they’ll be there, what it’ll cost, or exactly what they’re doing. South Dakota Searchlight sent messages about those and other aspects of […]

COMMENTARY
Gov. Kristi Noem shakes hands with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Aug. 21, 2023, near the nation's southern border. Also pictured, from left, are Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa and Gov. Jim Pillen of Nebraska. (Courtesy of Gov. Noem's office)

At the border, politicians play while migrants pay

BY: - August 25, 2023

Sister Teresa Ann Wolf from the Mother of God Monastery in Watertown recently comforted a young, pregnant Guatemalan woman who collapsed in pain after crossing the Rio Grande River, her baby breached and both lives in peril. Gov. Kristi Noem recently flew to the Texas border, where she joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and a […]

Gov. Kristi Noem speaks on Aug. 21, 2023, near the nation's southern border. With Noem are, from left, Govs. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Greg Abbott of Texas, and Jim Pillen of Nebraska. (Courtesy of Gov. Noem's office)

Noem says National Guard deployment to southern border will begin next month

BY: - August 21, 2023

Gov. Kristi Noem said during a press conference Monday that a previously announced South Dakota National Guard deployment to the border will begin Sept. 1.  Noem made the comments during a livestreamed appearance at the border with fellow Republican governors Greg Abbott of Texas, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Jim Pillen of Nebraska and Kevin Stitt […]

Gov. Kristi Noem visits troops during the 2019 Golden Coyote Exercise at Rapid City in 2019. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Spc. Jamaal Turner)

Noem plans to use emergency and disaster money to pay for border troop deployment

BY: - June 2, 2023

Gov. Kristi Noem’s funding source for a troop deployment to the U.S.-Mexico border is the state’s Emergency and Disaster Fund, a revelation that caused a top-ranking legislator to criticize the plan and question its legality. Noem announced the impending troop deployment Thursday in a news release, saying she plans to send at least 50 National […]

An aerial view of the American flags flying over an international bridge as immigrants line up next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence to seek asylum on Dec. 22, 2022, in El Paso, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Noem orders National Guard troops to Mexican border again

BY: - June 1, 2023

Gov. Kristi Noem announced plans Thursday to deploy more South Dakota National Guard troops to the nation’s southern border this summer. Noem has sent South Dakota soldiers to the border previously. She said the new deployment comes in response to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s request for assistance. Noem is joining 12 other Republican governors who […]

Immigrants wait overnight next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence to seek asylum in the United States on Jan. 7, 2023, as viewed from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Biden administration proposes major new limits on asylum at the border

BY: - February 21, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is rolling out a proposed rule that for two years would bar migrants from applying for asylum at the Southern border if they have not first asked for protection in a country they traveled through. The administration is seeking to limit asylum requests at the U.S.-Mexico border as a pandemic-era […]

Bags of heroin, some laced with fentanyl, are displayed before a press conference regarding a major drug bust, at the office of the New York Attorney General, Sept. 23, 2016, in New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Funding needed to curb fentanyl smuggling at ports of entry, administration officials say

BY: - February 15, 2023

WASHINGTON — Biden administration officials at a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday on the deadly illicit drug fentanyl said they need more money for better screening technology at ports of entry at the Southern border. They also said the U.S. needs to keep pressure on China due to its role in the sale of chemicals used […]