Kristi Noem, Governor of South Dakota, is facing backlash for her violent response to protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Second, these protests were organized in Minneapolis and St. Paul, which helped to capture national attention. The drama surrounding the confrontation quickly ramped up to a fever pitch. Noem then blamed the protesters for attempting to thwart immigrant enforcement initiatives after they temporarily halted operations at a church in town tied to an ICE leader.
At first, Noem disputed accusations that federal law enforcement officers were using chemical agents on the peaceful protestors. But once she was shown video documentation of pepper spray being deployed, she reversed course. Today, she is finger pointing back at the protesters themselves for forcing the use of the chemical agents. This unexpected pivot both raised eyebrows and sparked concerns over her commitment to protecting civil rights, particularly in regard to how protest activities are treated.
In recent public comments, Noem has focused attention primarily on the need for community members to take another look at their priorities. She was insistent on the need to make this real by differentiating between threats at places of worship. She laid bare the deeper societal inequalities that are tearing through communities.
“If people are more concerned about someone coming to a church on a Sunday and disrupting business as usual than they are about the atrocities that we are experiencing in our community, then they need to check their theology and the need to check their hearts.” – Nekima Levy Armstrong
Those protests have recently raised the ire of federal authorities. In a troubling act of overreach, now the Department of Justice is investigating the disruptive actions that protesters have used to interrupt church services. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, a noted conservative activist, celebrated the investigation’s launch on social media. She underscored that these recurring disruptions breach federal laws safeguarding houses of worship.
“A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws!” – Harmeet Dhillon
Noem’s administration faced further criticism when a federal judge ordered federal law enforcement to cease using pepper spray against peaceful protesters. This ruling came during increasingly tense circumstances around ICE operations in the area.
Community advocates have criticized police mistreatment of detainees at these protests as “mass incarceration in real time.” An immigration attorney described the frustrations of trying to reach clients detained by ICE.
“I stood outside the attorney visitation room for about four hours on Thursday, trying to see one of my clients who had been there for multiple days. I kept saying, you got to let me see my client. And they just kept repeating, we don’t do attorney visitation,” – an immigration attorney
In defense of its practices, a spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security stated that “all detainees receive full due process” and emphasized that detainees “have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers.”
The protests occur on top of a widely unrest. Perhaps most importantly, folks are fed up with ICE’s targeting of immigration violators in our cities, such as Minneapolis and St. Paul. Demonstrators demand an end to racially discriminatory enforcement tactics that disproportionately target vulnerable communities and for ICE to treat immigrants more humanely.
Noem’s remarks and subsequent actions reflect a growing divide between state leaders and community advocates regarding immigration policies and enforcement practices. As the protests persist and state investigations proceed, the governor’s course will be watched intently by allies and adversaries alike.