South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem barred from Indigenous reservation: "We are not your tribe!"

Pierre, South Dakota - South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been banned from an Indigenous reservation over her support for Donald Trump's anti-migrant border crackdown.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been banned from Oglala Sioux lands in response to her anti-migrant actions and support for 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been banned from Oglala Sioux lands in response to her anti-migrant actions and support for 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump.  © Andrew CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP

"Due to the safety of the Oyate, effective immediately, you are hereby Banished from the homelands of the Oglala Sioux Tribe!" Frank Star Comes Out, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, told Noem in a statement.

"We are a sovereign nation," he said. "We are not your tribe! We are our own nation we do not belong to the state of South Dakota!"

"We are older than South Dakota!"

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The rebuttal came after the Republican governor called for South Dakota to send more National Guard troops and razor wire to Texas to prevent migrants from crossing the US-Mexico border during an address before the state legislature last week.

Noem has been tapped as a potential Trump vice presidential pick.

"I joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served honorably in foreign wars to protect the freedoms of all Americans, even Indians throughout the nation. I don’t [want] to see our Indian people and reservations used as a basis to create a bogus border crisis just to help Trump get re-elected as President and Governor Noem his running mate as Vice-President," President Star Comes Out wrote.

"Calling the United States’ southern border in Texas an 'invasion' by illegal immigrants and criminal groups to justify sending S.D. National Guard troops there is a red herring that the Oglala Sioux Tribe doesn’t support," he added, noting that migrants "don’t deserve to be dehumanized and mistreated."

Kristi Noem responds to Oglala Sioux banishment

Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out has said his community does not support Kristi Noem's border "invasion" rhetoric.
Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out has said his community does not support Kristi Noem's border "invasion" rhetoric.  © Collage: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP & Screenshot/Facebook/OST President- Frank Star Comes Out

Noem immediately sought to undermine President Star Comes Out's message.

"It is unfortunate that President Star Comes Out chose to bring politics into a discussion regarding the effects of our federal government’s failure to enforce federal laws at the southern border and on tribal lands. My focus continues to be on working together to solve those problems," she said in a statement.

The governor also doubled down on her anti-migrant rhetoric, saying Indigenous communities are some of the most impacted by migrant arrivals.

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"In my speech to the legislature earlier this week, I told the truth of the devastation that drugs and human trafficking have on our state and our people," she claimed. "The Mexican cartels are not only impacting our tribal reservations; they are impacting every community, from our big cities to our small towns."

"But our tribal reservations are bearing the worst of that in South Dakota. Speaking this fact is not meant to blame the tribes in any way – they are the victim here. They are the victim of cartel-driven criminal activity, and they are the victim of inaction by the federal government."

The increased militarization of the Southern border has come with a rise in reports of human rights abuses, including racial profiling and rampant detainments and arrests.

Cover photo: Andrew CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP

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