(NewsNation) — South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is standing by her claim tribal leaders in her home state are benefiting from drug cartels operating on reservations.
Noem’s comments led to eight of South Dakota’s nine Native American tribes banning, or voting to ban, her from their lands. It has also resulted in strong pushback from some South Dakota officials.
During a rare press conference, Noem, a Republican, defended her statements and once again blamed the federal government for the situation on the southern border.
‘“We believe that this federal neglect has resulted in the cartel and their affiliates moving into our reservations and increase in overdoses, an increase in crimes and violence, a proliferation of drugs that we’ve seen in recent years, and even drugs and guns that are more present on our school properties,” Noem said Friday.
Noem has previously blamed the Biden administration for the criminal activity in her state and along the border and called for tribal leaders to take action.
While she may have some evidence for her claims of cartel activity on the reservations, South Dakota State Sen. Shawn Bordeaux, a former Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council member, said it’s not to the degree Noem alleges.
“She went way out of bounds in saying this,” Bordeaux said on “NewsNation Now.”
Tribal leaders push back against Noem
Even as Noem is pointing out a problem, she’s not providing solutions to match, Jeffrey Stiffarm, president of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, told NewsNation.
“She could provide assistance with setting up her state patrol, watch the highways as they come into the reservations, have county officers, county deputies do the same as these people cross their lands, their state lines to get to our reservations,” Stiffarm said. “There’s ways around this, but we got to work together to stop this.”
Through a spokesperson, Noem has said she still has many people who live on reservations who support her despite the clear tension with tribal leaders.
Stiffarm says, though, that cartels are not only on reservations but “every city in this country,” including ones in South Dakota, adding that Noem is only bringing them up for political gain.
“What is she doing to prevent that from being there?” Stiffarm questioned. “(Tribal leaders) are doing the best we can with what we have.”
Bordeaux said there are people frustrated Noem is “spending millions of South Dakota tax dollars in Texas” instead of helping people in her state. Earlier this year, the governor sent soldiers from South Dakota to help build the border wall and has been sending them to Texas for years to support Texas Gov. Greg Abbott‘s Operation Lonestar.
“I barely got off my county road here yesterday. We got a lot of work that needs to be done by the National Guard and our communities in South Dakota,” Bordeaux said. “Our reservation isn’t owned entirely by Native Americans. There are non-Native Americans who are frustrated that she’s not doing more to help us in our rural communities, just bringing up this talk that’s only getting her attention.”
