Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) now cannot visit 90 percent of tribal land in her own state.
According to The Daily Beast, "Noem is now barred from the Lake Traverse Reservation in the state’s northeast, according to a resolution passed Tuesday by the Sisseton Wahpeton Tribal Council. They join the Oglala, Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, and Rosebud Sioux tribes in banning the governor from their lands, which together comprise about 13,000 square miles of South Dakota’s total area of 77,116 square miles.
"Sisseton Tribal Chairman J. Garrett Renville said the resolution was passed 'by way of the voice of our people.' He added that, while the tribe was open to communicating with Noem in the future, she would remain barred from Sisseton lands until she took significant steps to repair the relationship."
Noem a close ally of former President Donald Trump, has enraged tribal leaders in recent months due to comments she made at a town hall meeting in March where she signed education bills into law.
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"They live with 80% to 90% unemployment," Noem said of the tribes. "Their kids don’t have any hope. They don’t have parents who show up and help them. They have a tribal council or a president who focuses on a political agenda more than they care about actually helping somebody’s life look better.” She also claimed that tribal leaders were working with drug cartels.
The Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, the second to ban Noem from their lands, accused her of spreading "gossip and lies" at that event.
This comes at the same time that Noem is under fire for multiple controversial statements in her upcoming book, including a boast that she shot a puppy whom she wasn't able to train for hunting work, and a claim that she met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un that turned out not to be true.
Despite all of this, Noem is still reportedly one of the people Trump is considering for his running mate on the 2024 presidential ticket.
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