Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been banned from the Pine Ridge Reservation by a South Dakota tribe after speaking in defense of Texas on Jan. 31 and promising to send more razor wire and security personnel to the state to help it curb the influx of illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem banned from tribal land over U.S.-Mexico border comments: "Blatant disrespect" https://t.co/JdmXlEVbcf via @CBSNews
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In a Friday statement addressed to Noem, Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out said, “Due to the safety of the Oyate, effective immediately, you are hereby Banished from the homelands of the Oglala Sioux Tribe!”
He went on to accuse Noem of using the border issue to aid former President Trump’s presidential campaign, while boosting her chances of becoming his vice presidential pick.
Star Comes Out spoke in defense of migrants trying to enter the U.S. illegally, saying they are only looking for jobs and a better life and should not 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.”
Star Comes Out also took issue with Noem’s recent address to lawmakers on Wednesday in which she said that a gang named the Ghost Dancers is killing people on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
She had added that the gang is affiliated with cartels that spread drugs across the Midwest using reservations in South Dakota.
According to Star Comes Out, Noem’s reference is offensive and insulting to “our Oyate,” as he argued that the Ghost Dance is one of the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s “most sacred ceremonies.”
“Drug and human trafficking are occurring throughout South Dakota, and surrounding states, not just on Indian reservations. Drugs are being spread from places like Denver directly to reservations as well as off-reservation cities and towns in South Dakota. Reservations cannot be blamed for drugs ending up in Rapid City, Sioux Falls and even in places like Watertown and Castlewood, S.D.,” he stated, claiming that the issue was in existence during Trump’s administration.
Responding to the accusation on Saturday, Noem released a statement to say, “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.”
