'Call me when you're an American': Gov. Noem says South Dakota won't help manage border crisis
South Dakota is home to an estimated 5,000 undocumented immigrants.
But Gov. Kristi Noem says those people along with any migrants right now in custody of the federal government at the southern border are not welcome in South Dakota.
"South Dakota won't be taking any illegal immigrants that the Biden Administration wants to relocate," the first-term governor wrote on social media Wednesday morning.
The post comes in reaction to media reports that President Joe Biden's administration is seeking to fly migrants who've arrived at the southern border to northern and coastal states.
In recent weeks, there's been an uptick in unaccompanied migrant children to the border, and the federal government has struggled to process them out of short-term holding facilities to temporary facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services.
But South Dakota won't be a willing partner in those efforts if Noem has anything to do with it.
South Dakota won't be taking any illegal immigrants that the Biden Administration wants to relocate. My message to illegal immigrants... call me when you're an American.
— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) April 14, 2021
"My message to illegal immigrants... call me when you're an American," the governor wrote on the social media website Twitter.
Ian Fury, Noem's spokesman, said Wednesday morning that the Governor's Office hasn't received a direct request by the Biden administration to house migrant children awaiting processing of asylee petitions, but the governor is "sending the message" that should one be made, it will be denied.
