12 times Kristi Noem was the worst

Kristi Noem just gets more despicable

Her misdeeds started when she was South Dakota's governor — well, if her autobiography is to be believed, even before. And Kristi Noem has gotten even worse as Donald Trump's secretary of Homeland Security.

Noem has long been one of the most anti-LGBTQ+ politicians in the nation, and she's particularly anti-transgender as well as hostile to most minority groups, but she has recently reached new lows — overseeing the deportation of immigrants to a brutal prison and trying, by lying, to justify Immigration and Customs Enforcement's fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. (ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security.)

Democratic U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly has filed articles of impeachment against Noem, with Kelly saying Noem has led a "reign of terror" at Homeland Security. With Republicans holding majorities in the House and Senate, Kelly's effort may not go anywhere, but the articles detail serious charges.

It seems that spearheading of a transgender sports ban in her state was just the beginning. Or, earlier, killing a dog and a goat. So here are some of Noem's worst moments.

Hiding from 'We're Here' stars in her office

Amy Rambow, star of We're Here season 2 and founder of the South Dakota LGBTQ+ organization Watertown Love, attempted to meet with Noem during Equality South Dakota's Visibility and Advocacy Day at the capital in February 2022, just after the governor had signed an anti-trans sports bill into law.

Noem refused to speak with the group as she entered her office, and she camped out inside until the event concluded.

Making a commercial targeting trans inclusion

Before it was passed and signed into law, Noem released a national commercial promoting her transgender-exclusionary sports bill. The ad, which debuted during prime-time news programs around the nation, didn't use the words "transgender" or "trans" but instead insisted that Noem was trying to protect girls' and women's sports.

"In South Dakota, only girls play girls' sports. Why? Because of Gov. Kristi Noem's leadership," the ad stated. "Noem has been protecting girls' sports for years and never backed down."

'Liberal ideologies' are 'poison' to universities

In a 2023 letter to the state’s Board of Regents — the group that supervises the South Dakota's public colleges and universities — Noem demanded they "prohibit drag shows from taking place on university campuses" and "remove all references to preferred pronouns in all school materials and any enforcement of such.”

Noem wrote that states have “allowed liberal ideologies to poison their universities and colleges," adding that institutions that were “once a hotbed of ideological diversity, debate, and the pursuit of truth and discovery” have now “become one-sided, close-minded, and focused on feelings rather than facts.”

She then had the gall to insist that universities “remove any policy or procedure that prohibits students from exercising their right to free speech."

Bragging about killing a puppy ... and a goat

Noem revealed in her 2024 book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward, that she shot dead her dog Cricket, a wirehair pointer, after the puppy disrupted a hunt. Noem described the dog as having an “aggressive personality" and said that Cricket killed many of a neighbor's chickens after the governor failed to control her.

Noem wrote that she hated Cricket after the incident and “realized I had to put her down.” She then took the dog to a gravel pit and shot her to death, later doing the same to a “nasty and mean” male goat her family had owned.

Threatening to kill ANOTHER dog

Even after receiving bipartisan condemnation for killing a puppy, Noem did not relent or show remorse — instead, she suggested that President Joe Biden's dog, Commander, should meet the same fate.

“What would I do if I was president on the first day in office in 2025?" she wrote in her book's final passage. "The first thing I’d do is make sure Joe Biden’s dog was nowhere on the grounds. (‘Commander, say hello to Cricket for me.’)"

Lying about meeting Kim Jong-un

Also in her book, Noem fabricated a meeting between herself and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, which The Dakota Scout first discovered had never occurred.

“I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un," she wrote. "I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all).”

Her publisher, Center Street, has since said in a statement that parts of Noem's book will be redacted and reprinted to remove the falsehoods.

Deporting immigrants and sporting a Rolex

When Noem became secretary of Homeland Security in 2025, one of her first duties was overseeing the deportation of 252 Venezuelan refugees from the U.S. to El Salvador, where they endured brutal conditions at CECOT — Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, which translates to Terrorism Confinement Center. They were deported on suspicion of connections to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, but they never had a day in court to answer any charges. In March, Noem visited CECOT. While the men there suffered, Noem was photographed and filmed wearing a $50,000 Rolex watch.

Related: All about the infamous CECOT prison — on which CBS's Bari Weiss pulled a story

Refusing to say if Andry José Hernández Romero was alive

Then in May, Noem appeared before the House Homeland Security Committee, and Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia demanded to know if gay makeup artist Andry José Hernández Romero was alive in CECOT. Hernández Romero had been seeking asylum in the U.S. due to antigay persecution in his native Venezuela, but he was deported to the prison in El Salvador without due process, along with the 200-plus others. “Would you commit at least into looking and asking El Salvador if he is alive?” Garcia asked Noem. She refused. Finally, in June, Hernández Romero and the others were released in a prisoner swap, but they were returned to Venezuela rather than be allowed to go through asylum proceedings in the U.S.

Having a senator hauled out of her press conference

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, showed up at a Noem press conference in June in Los Angeles just to ask questions; at the time, the Trump administration had deployed National Guard members to L.A. as part of its immigration crackdown. But Padilla was quickly removed from the room by FBI and Secret Service agents, shoved to the ground, and handcuffed. In a Fox News interview, Noem falsely claimed Padilla had not identified himself. He had done so immediately, saying, “I am Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary.” He was also wearing a polo shirt that said “United States Senate.”

Canceling grants for LGBTQ+ and DEI programs

In July, Noem canceled $18.5 million in grants to LGBTQ+ programs and those promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. A Homeland Security official told Fox News the department would nix funding for the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships because the spending went to “ideologically driven programs.”

Killed funding included $851,836 for the Eradicate Hate Global Summit and $209,407 to the Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders, organizations described by Fox News as “controversial.”

The Eradicate Hate Global Summit launched in 2018 after the anti-Semitic mass shooting of congregation members at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, during Trump’s first term. That shooting took place during a bris for the twin children of a gay couple. The shooting left 11 dead and seven others injured. The summit is committed to stopping hate-based attacks around the world and bills itself as a nonpartisan organization.

SMYAL is focused on empowering LGBTQ+ youth and working “to create a world where queer and trans youth thrive,” as its website says. Its work includes scholarship programs, affirming therapy, and housing support.

Turning DHS into a video studio

She spent $200 million in taxpayer funds on an ad campaign to encourage undocumented immigrants to leave the U.S., that is, “self-deport,” and to laud the Trump administration. The campaign started in August. Democrats questioned the ads’ effectiveness, and immigrants pointed out that it’s not that easy to uproot themselves. “We should be focused on keeping the American people safe and secure, not producing glossy propaganda with tax dollars,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, to top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee. She also produced a video blaming Democrats for last year’s government shutdown.

By the way, DHS has denied that it's considering a reality series in which immigrants compete for citizenship.

Smearing Renee Nicole Good with lies

In a case of “How low can you go?” in January, Noem and other administration officials blamed Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good for her own death. Good was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross as she drove through an area where ICE was rounding up immigrants. Noem claimed Good had “weaponized her vehicle” toward the officer when in reality Good was trying to drive away, and Noem further said Good was committing an act of “domestic terrorism.” Another of Noem’s accusations was that Good was stalking ICE officers and impeding their work. Attorneys for Good’s family, however, said that Good and her wife, Becca, came across the ICE operations on their way home and decided to stop and “observe with the intention of supporting and helping their neighbors.”

Related: Who was Renee Nicole Good? Remembering the Minneapolis poet and mother killed by ICE

Related: Who is Jonathan Ross? ICE agent who killed Renee Good once broke a suspect's car window