Kristi Noem made her first public appearance as special envoy to the “Shield of the Americas” on Saturday, telling leaders from across the Western Hemisphere gathered near Miami about her objectives in her new role.
Two days after President Donald Trump announced the removal of Noem from her post atop the Department of Homeland Security, she promoted “migration control” to “reverse these harmful foreign influences into many of our businesses” and to achieve economic prosperity.
“This Shield of Americas will be a powerful example to the rest of the world about what’s possible,” Noem said. “There is nothing like this happening today anywhere else in the world, and the way that we cooperate on our shared ideals of freedom and of democracy and safety and security will be a shining light to all of those who wish to be more like all of us.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced Noem to attendees, telling them that they “will see a lot of her,” as she will be “very involved with each of you at a personal level, and on a daily, and weekly, and monthly level.”
The group, Noem said, is intended to “make sure that we’re each defending our own sovereignty” and build “economic prosperity that blesses all of our people.”
“Our objectives are going to be to destroy the cartels, to go after these narco-terrorists that are destroying our people, killing our children and our grandchildren,” Noem said. “We’re also going to keep our adversaries at bay, those adversaries that wish to change our way of life and our values that are outside of our hemisphere.”
WILL KRISTI NOEM BECOME THE NEW FACE OF TRUMP’S DONROE DOCTRINE?
Noem’s comments follow an appearance from Trump earlier in the day, during which he announced a new military coalition to address drug cartel violence in the Western Hemisphere and continued to hint at “great change” in Cuba.
As for the DHS, Trump nominated Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to replace Noem “effective March 31.” However, Mullin’s Senate colleagues must confirm him as homeland security secretary, a process Noem cleared last year in a 59-34 vote. Among the seven Democrats who voted in favor was Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who has also vowed to support Mullin.
