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Donald Trump was expected on Tuesday to pick South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the US Department of Homeland Security, a powerful post at the center of the incoming president’s tough immigration policies.

Sources in Trump’s transition team have told US media, including CBS News, that he has settled on Noem, a longtime Trump loyalist who was once considered a strong contender to be the Republican nominee’s running mate.

Joining Trump’s cabinet would be a notable political comeback for Noem, who saw his stock plummet earlier this year when he published a memoir in which he recounted shooting an “untrained” pet dog after a hunting trip gone wrong Noem said her action showed she was capable of making difficult choices.

Homeland Security is a sprawling organization with a budget of more than $107 billion, about 15 times that of South Dakota, where Noem is in his second term as governor.

If confirmed as his secretary by the U.S. Senate, the 52-year-old will oversee ICE, along with border security operations with Canada and Mexico, key agencies in any Trump plan to restrict immigration or deport undocumented migrants. documents.

DHS also controls the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which helps communities during times of natural disasters such as hurricanes.

Trump himself has yet to confirm Noem’s nomination. If accurate, it would be the latest snap pick as the Republican leader tries to grow his cabinet.

He has already chosen former immigration official Tom Homan as the country’s “border czar,” tasking him with delivering on his key domestic promise of mass deportations of undocumented migrants. The DHS secretary would be intimately involved in any such operations.

Current Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was impeached in February by the Republican-majority House of Representatives as Republicans successfully turned immigration and border security into a critical issue in the 2024 election. The Democratic-controlled US Senate rejected the effort to condemn him.