Gov. Kristi Noem is being forbidden from traveling to a Native American reservation in northern South Dakota as backlash to remarks she made about tribal leadership continues.
The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Council voted unanimously Tuesday to forbid the governor from coming on to its land, the second tribe in the state to do so after the Oglala Sioux Tribe did earlier this year.
“As you know, she (Noem) has made some false allegations, some lies,” Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Ryman LeBeau told council members, referring to remarks the governor made at a town hall last month suggesting that certain tribal leaders were benefitting from the presence of drug cartels on their reservations. “There have been pretty negative and derogatory statements.”
LeBeau — who did not respond to a request for comment from The Dakota Scout — also expressed frustration that Noem showed up without invitation to a meeting of state tribal leaders last week in Rapid City.
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Noem and many of the state’s tribal leaders have been at odds since January, when the governor delivered a joint address to the Legislature on the state of the U.S.-Mexico border. During that speech, the governor alleged that Mexican drug cartels were operating on the state’s reservations, a claim supported by the Attorney General’s Office, the Department of Public Safety and tribal leaders themselves. The fallout from that allegation got her banned from Pine Ridge.
Alleging financial malfeasance, Noem calls for tribal audits
During a Winner town hall in March, Noem escalated her war of words, suggesting that some reservation leaders are tied to drug cartels. In the face of backlash, Noem highlighted potential financial malfeasance on the reservations and called for federal audits to be conducted of all nine South Dakota tribes.
Several tribal presidents have demanded apologies for her remarks, but in an interview with The Scout last week, Noem doubled down.
“I’m not going to apologize for telling the truth,” Noem said. “Prove me wrong, I would love it. I will help you fix it.”
A spokeswoman for Noem called the bans counterproductive.
“Banishing Gov. Noem does nothing to solve the problem. She calls on all our tribal leaders to banish the cartels from tribal lands.”
Last year, the Cheyenne River Tribal Council declared a state of emergency because of drug addiction on the reservation. The Oglala Sioux Tribe also declared a state of emergency because of rampant crime. That tribe is also suing the federal government, alleging the government has not provided enough funding for law enforcement, and in congressional testimony last year, Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out acknowledged that cartels are operating on the reservation.
Conservatives, including Noem, and law enforcement officials have blamed the Biden administration for a border policy that allowed record levels of immigrants to enter the U.S., along with large quantities of fentanyl, a highly addictive drug blamed for cascading overdose deaths tied to both cartels and China.
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Shortly after the Tuesday, April 2 vote by the Cheyenne River Tribal Council, Noem sent out a release calling once again on tribal leaders to banish cartels, and for the Biden administration to give tribes the resources they need.
“Every time that a South Dakota tribe has asked me for assistance, I have done what I can, both while in Congress and as governor,” Noem said. “I will continue to speak the truth, call out corruption wherever I see it and fight to protect the lives of Native Americans in our state — because that’s what they deserve.”