South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is now banned from entering nearly 20 percent of her state after another tribe banned her on Tuesday.
It means she is currently not welcome on seven of the state’s nine reservations.
The latest ban came after comments she made earlier this year about tribal leaders profiting from drug cartels.
“We don’t have cartels on the reservations,” Peter Lengkeek, chairman of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, said after Tuesday’s vote.
The latest developments follow the backlash Noem received when she wrote about killing a misbehaving puppy in her latest book.
The Crow Creek Sioux tribe is the latest to be banned by South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem
Noem is currently not welcome on seven of the nine reservations within the state
It is likely that the controversies will effectively end her chances of becoming Donald Trump’s running mate in the November elections.
The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe banned Noem on Tuesday, while the Sissteon-Wahpeton Oyate issued their ban earlier this week.
On Friday, the Yankton Sioux Tribe’s leadership committee recommended banning Noem, but that tribe’s general council must vote on it before Noem could be banished from their land in southeastern South Dakota.
The Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes had already taken action to keep her off their reservations.
Two other tribes have not yet banned it.
Noem deepened divisions between the tribes and the rest of the state in March when she publicly said tribal leaders were targeting drug cartels on their reservations while neglecting the needs of children and the poor.
“Murders are being committed by cartel members on the Pine Ridge Reservation and in Rapid City, and a gang called the Ghost Dancers is affiliated with these cartels,” Noem said in her speech earlier this year. “They have managed to recruit tribesmen for their criminal activities.”
“The sheer number of illegal migrants entering the country has meant that every state is now a border state,” she continued.
“We have a number of tribal leaders who I believe personally benefit from the presence of the cartels, and that’s why they attack me every day,” Noem said at a forum.
“But I’m going to fight for the people who actually live in these situations, who call and text me every day and say, ‘Please, dear governor, please come help us in Pine Ridge. We are afraid.”
Noem appeared to double down on her stance Thursday by addressing the controversy on social media
South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem, left, and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Janet Alkire stand during a ceremony in which tribal leaders presented flags from the Standing Rock and Rosebud Sioux Tribes at the Capitol last January of the state of Pierre
Charles Abourezk has served as a judge for Native American tribes in the United States and has said he has not encountered any cartel activity in the cases he has heard.
“I don’t know any, to be honest,” Abourezk countered NPR. “I have never come across any allegations of cartel involvement, although there is normal drug use and sales in the rest of South Dakota.”
Noem has previously said that she believes many people living on the reservations still support her, even though she clearly doesn’t get along with tribal leaders.
Noem discussed the issue in a message on X on Thursday while posting a link to a YouTube channel about law enforcement video on drugs on the reservations.
“Tribal leaders must take action to banish the cartels from their lands and accept my offer to help them restore law and order to their communities while protecting their sovereignty,” Noem said. “We can only do this through partnerships because the Biden administration is failing to do its job.”
Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Nation dance during a Flag Day celebration
A sign marks the entrance to the Crow Creek Hunkpati Oyate Reservation of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in Crow Creek, South Dakota
The entrance to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Oglala Sioux tribe
The tribes have clashed with Noem in the past, including during the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests in Standing Rock and during the COVID-19 pandemic when they set up coronavirus checkpoints at reservation boundaries to keep out unnecessary visitors hold.
She was temporarily banished from the Oglala Sioux Reservation in 2019 after the protest dispute.
And there is a long history of rocky relations between the state’s Native Americans and the government, dating back to 1890, when soldiers shot and killed hundreds of Lakota men, women and children during the Wounded Knee massacre as part of a campaign to to stop religious belief. practice known as the Ghost Dance.
Political observer Cal Jillson, of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said this tribal conflict feels a little different because Noem “seems to be actively instigating it, which suggests she sees a political advantage in it.”
“I’m sure Governor Noem doesn’t mind highlighting tensions with Native Americans in South Dakota because if we’re not talking about that, we’re talking about shooting the dog,” Jillson said .
Noem appears to be growing tired of answering questions about her decision to kill Cricket after the dog attacked a family’s chickens during a stop on the way home from a hunting trip and then tried to bite the governor.
A banner for Sitting Bull’s cemetery can be seen on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation
Noem was also criticized for including an anecdote that she has since asked her publisher to remove from the book that described North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “staring down” during a private meeting that experts said was unlikely .
After those controversies, she canceled several interviews scheduled as part of the book tour.
With all the questions surrounding “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” no one is asking anymore about Noem’s decision to appear in an infomercial-style video praising a team of cosmetic dentists. in Texas who gave her veneers.
Jillson said this will likely hurt her chances with Trump, who has auditioned a long list of potential vice presidential candidates.
“I think the chaos that Trump enjoys is the chaos that he creates. Chaos created by someone else simply diverts attention from himself,” Jillson said.
University of South Dakota political science professor Michael Card said that if it is not the vice presidential spot, it is not clear what Noem’s political future is because she cannot run for another term as governor. Noem is in her second term as governor.
She could go after U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds’ seat or try to return to the House of Representatives, Card said.
