After Oglala Sioux Tribe Bans Trump Ally Kristi Noem From Reservation, GOP South Dakota Governor Responds

The Oglala Sioux Tribe banned South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) from the Pine Ridge Reservation due to her comments about the U.S.-Mexico border.

In early February, Noem spoke up about wanting to send razor wire and security personnel to Texas to assist in deterring migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. She also noted that cartels were infiltrating this state’s reservations.

“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,” the Tribe’s President Frank Star Comes Out said in a statement addressed to the South Dakota governor.

Star Comes Out responded to Noem’s claim that “the effects of [President] Joe Biden‘s failures at the border” happen in South Dakota daily.

“The truth of the matter is that Governor Noem wants the use the so-called ‘invasion’ of the southern border as a Republican ‘crisis’ issue to help get former President Donald Trump to use it as a campaign issue to get re-elected as President, and in turn increase her chances of being selected by Trump to be his running mate as Vice-President,” the Oglala Sioux Tribe leader stated.

He also replied to Noem’s argument that cartels are committing drug and human trafficking in “several of South Dakota’s tribal reservations.”

“It is true that the Tribe has filed two lawsuits in federal court alleging that drugs and gang activity on the Reservation is overwhelming law enforcement resources,” he confessed. “But this is a result of the future of the U.S. Government to fulfill its treaty obligations to the Tribe. But it isn’t only Biden that is to blame for not complying with the court’s order; Biden only signs bills passed by both houses of Congress.”

“In closing, I believe that many of the people coming to the southern border of the United States in search of jobs and a better life are Indian people from such places as El Salvador, Guatemalan and Mexico and don’t deserve to be dehumanized and mistreated by people like [Texas] Gov. [Greg] Abbott and his cohorts,” Star Comes Out claimed. “They don’t need to be put in cages, separated from their children like during the Trump Administration, or be cut up by razor wire furnished by, of all places, South Dakota.”

“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,” he stated. “I don’t 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.”

“Lastly, I agree with Noem’s statement that ‘we are a nation of laws and not men,'” he admitted. “At least we should be. This is why the United States and the State of South Dakota must honor our treaty rights within our Sioux homelands, not constantly trying to degrade, diminish and ignore them.”

“I and the Oyate [people/nation] are deeply offended that you alleged the “Ghost Dancers” are affiliated with these cartels, Ghost Dance; one of most sacred ceremonies was used with blatant disrespect and is insulting to our Oyate,” Star Comes Out declared. “Furthermore, we are a sovereign nation. We are not your Tribe. We are our own nation and we do not belong to the State of South Dakota. We are older than South Dakota due to the safety of the Oyate, effective immediately, you are hereby banished from the homelands of the Oglala Sioux Tribe! Prayers to the Oyate! HOKA!”

Noem responded to Star Comes Out in a statement.

“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,” she stated. “My focus continues to be on working together to solve those problems.”

Noem said that she had better results working with the Trump administration.

“In my experience, unlike the current administration, the previous administration was willing to have conversations about how we can work together to address these challenges,” she shared.

“I thank President Star Comes out for his service in our nation’s military,” Noem mentioned. “As I told bipartisan Native American legislators earlier this week, ‘I am not the one with a stiff arm, here. You can’t build relationships if you don’t spend time together.’ I stand ready to work with any of our state’s Native American tribes to build such a relationship.”

In August 2022, the Mexican cities, Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada and Tecate, suffered widespread shootings and arson caused by drug cartels.

Twenty-four vehicles were hijacked and burned throughout these cities. Seventeen suspects were detained, and some were identified as Jalisco cartel members.

On August 13, 2022, the U.S. Consulate told employees to “shelter in place until further notice.”

Noem has been cultivating a national profile in hopes of being picked as Trump’s running mate.

In 2022, she made headlines when she signed an executive order restricting the use of TikTok on government devices. She claimed the app was part of “data gathering operations on behalf of” the Chinese government.