Gov. Kristi Noem On ‘War’ at Border: Joe Biden’s Crisis ‘Complete Failure of Leadership’

“Our Guard was there for 60 days,” Noem stated in an exclusive interview at Mount Rushmore in late September. “We deployed them down there. When the Texas governor and Arizona governor asked for help and resources, they asked for law enforcement. However as I evaluated what the needs were down there — to begin with, we had been having historic visitation to our state, so I didn’t wish to shortchange my law enforcement agencies that enforce public safety throughout South Dakota. But additionally, looking at the mission that was there and the situations they’d be in, the folks which are trained specifically for that sort of a mission is my National Guard. We’ve consistently, for years, had the best-rated, ranked, and awarded National Guard units in the country, and they’re used to deploying, filling in, and working with other agencies, federal agencies, state agencies in cooperative levels, and so they’re used to going into war. And what we’re seeing on the southern border, in many instances, is a war.”

Noem stated the South Dakota National Guard members came home for a few days in September, however more are deploying back to the border in October.

Texas National Guard troops stand by to help outnumbered Border Patrol agents as more than 12,000 migrants are detained in Del Rio, Texas. (Picture: Office of the Texas Governor)

“They’re facing very dangerous situations with illegal criminals many instances that are crossing, human trafficking, drugs, and I wanted them to be trained for these situations and ensure that all of them came home safe,” Noem stated. “So they’ve been home now for a couple of days, and we are going to redeploy in October. And I brought another 125 National Guard members to go down there and again support the mission of making sure that that southern border could be as secure as we as states can do that.”

Noem additionally ripped President Joe Biden for a “complete failure of leadership” on the border and stated the border disaster, combined with the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, “has shocked folks to the core.”

“People who maybe didn’t pay that much attention to politics before, maybe didn’t pay that much attention to government and the fact that leaders, the decisions they make have real consequences — well, they’re awake now. They’re paying attention, and it’s up to us to really articulate the difference in what we did have under President Trump and conservative leadership and what we’ve got today with the Biden White House — {that a} nation without laws isn’t a nation at all,” Noem stated. “And we’re rapidly getting there, in fact, faster than I thought we would, under this president.”

Noem’s comments came as part of a broader pair of interviews for the latest On The Hill video special in late September for which she spent two days with Breitbart News in South Dakota — one at Mount Rushmore for this interview, and then once more the following day at Custer State Park at its annual Governor’s Buffalo Roundup for a second interview. In the interview, Noem additionally hammered Biden for “rationing” lifesaving coronavirus drugs, and for fighting a fireworks ceremony at Mount Rushmore for Independence Day. More from the series is forthcoming.