Kristi Noem says drugs from southern border infiltrating South Dakota's reservations

PIERRE — Gov. Kristi Noem went after cartels entering into the United States, and the flow of drugs from the southern border into South Dakota, during her emergency joint session speech Wednesday.

The second-term Republican governor called what’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas an “invasion.” And her 18-minute speech set the stage for her administration and the state to stand with what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is trying to do to staunch the flow of migrants.

“The invasion is coming over the southern border,” she said. “The 50 states have a common enemy, that enemy is the Mexican drug cartels that are waging war against our nation.”

More: Noem makes another visit to Texas-Mexico border

Noem's address came less than a week after she traveled to Eagle Pass, Texas, a small town on the border, where she was briefed by border patrol agents about the situation they face daily.

What's going on at the southern border?

The number of arrests at the southern border skyrocketed to a new national high in December, with 249,785 arrests recorded by border patrol agents, according to the Associated Press.

Data released by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in December found arrests of migrants crossing the border, not at ports of entry, had spiked 31% from November and was also up 13% from December 2022, when 222,000 people had been arrested, the previous record.

Encounters were highest in Tucson, Arizona, at 200,000, but Del Rio, where Eagle Pass is located, had 152,000 encounters between October 2023 and December 2023, according to CBP.

When including migrant encounters with people who had come to the U.S. via legal pathways, encounters totaled 302,034, according to the AP.

Earlier in January, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott seized Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, near the Rio Grande, from border patrol agents and installed razor wire and fencing. Abbott defended the move, citing the U.S. Constitution's provision that states can defend themselves.

Noem and 24 other Republican governors supported Abbott's decision.

Abbott called the migration crisis an "invasion," according to the Austin-American Statesman, and as a part of Operation Lone Star, an $11 billion border security investment, physical barriers including razor wire and water buoys were installed.

More: Gov. Greg Abbott says Biden is shirking his oath to protect border, leaving it to Texas

But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January that border patrol agents could remove razor wire and Texas was also instructed in September to remove the water buoys.

Additionally, Abbott recently signed legislation in December making it a state crime to illegally cross the Texas border from Mexico, according to the Texas Tribune. The law will go into effect in March and is expected to force a legal battle between the state and the federal government.

Noem: Drugs from cartels are on the reservations in South Dakota

Noem narrowed her scope of the speech to speak about the flow of the drugs into South Dakota and onto its nine reservations.

"The cartels are perpetrating violence in each of our states, even here in South Dakota,” she said. “...The cartels are using our reservations to facilitate the spread of drugs throughout the Midwest.”

She said one gang, the "Ghost Dancers," were operating with the cartels in Pine Ridge, as well as in Rapid City.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe sued the federal government in 2022, citing the feds weren’t fulfilling its treaty obligations by not providing adequate law enforcement staffing.

More: Oglala Sioux Tribe sues federal government over police staffing on Pine Ridge Reservation

The lawsuit alleges the increase of murders and increased drug trafficking had created a public safety crisis on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

“More dangerous drugs and more sophisticated drug dealers have entered the Reservation,” according to the lawsuit.

The tribe sued again in January over the feds' inability to provide more law enforcement.

Noem said Wednesday she planned to support the Oglala Sioux Tribe loudly and publicly.

When it came to supporting Texas, Noem said she and the state were willing to send razor wire to Texas, support Texas in legal action and find options to provide personnel, such as guard troops to Texas.

More: Texas hasn’t repaid South Dakota for help at the border

In the past, when South Dakota had deployed National Guard troops, Noem said that federal regulation hampered their efforts.

“I don’t want South Dakota soldiers to facilitate an invasion – I want them to stand up and stop it," she told lawmakers. "So we are talking to Texas about what rules of engagement can look like to make sure that happens."

Members of the South Dakota National Guard sat in the gallery while Noem made her speech, along with four members of South Dakota Voice for Peace, who had earlier protested outside the Capitol.

Noem said that South Dakota had to stand with Texas in defending the state’s right to protect itself and was critical of the Biden administration.

“It is clear we cannot rely on this administration to uphold the law and secure our border,” she said. “...These cartels are being fed from over the open southern border where more dangerous individuals are entering the country to destroy America from within.”

The House adopted a resolution following Noem’s speech, 62-6, along party lines, supporting Texas’s right to defend itself and recognizing the crisis at the border. In the Senate, for the same resolution the vote was 28-3, along party lines.

Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Fort Pierre, and Sen. Casey Crabtree, R-Madison, spoke on the resolutions and referenced their trip to the U.S.-Mexico border over the summer.

“I think we can agree we’re in a critical moment in our nation’s history and this is a memorable day that the South Dakota governor brought to us,” Mortenson said.

Lawmaker and tribe frustrated over speech

Rep. Peri Pourier, D-Rapid City, represents the Pine Ridge reservation in the Legislature. She was upset Noem took time during the 38-day session to make a political statement.

“To use the disadvantagement of Lakota people to further her national-level ambitions is appalling,” Pourier said. “To throw Pine Ridge underneath the bus, to create misinformation that there’s a gang called Ghost Dancers that is an affront in our spiritual beliefs, that is an affront to who we are as Lakota people.”

Cora White Horse, the treasurer of Oglala Lakota said Wednesday, that she was unaware of a gang called Ghost Dancers operating in Rapid City or on Pine Ridge. Instead, she said she knew about a charity motorcycle group called Ghost Dancers.

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But a spokesperson for the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office confirmed that a gang called Ghost Dancers, a sect of the Bandidos, an outlaw motorcycle gang, was active in South Dakota.

The Department of Criminal Investigations and the FBI raided a Bandidos clubhouse in Rapid City, according to the Rapid City Journal in 2022.

White Horse disputed Noem’s statement that cartels were active on the Pine Ridge Reservation and was unaware of where in the 2024 Oglala Sioux lawsuit there were mentions of drug cartels. She said the lawsuit said there was drug crimes.

“[Noem] could’ve supported us in the beginning,” White Horse said. “You can’t call blaming supporting.”

White Horse called on Noem to send letters of support to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and to the South Dakota congressional delegation and surrounding counties stating that Pine Ridge needs more law enforcement.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Gov. Kristi Noem takes stance about border crisis during joint session