It seems like Republican South Dakota governor and noted COVID-19 superspreader Kristi Noem wants unaccompanied children and other asylum-seekers to know that they’re not welcome in her state. I mean, she really wants them to know they’re really not welcome.
“South Dakota won't be taking any illegal immigrants that the Biden Administration wants to relocate,” she wrote in a tweet that could have easily been mistaken for something from Gab or Parler but was actually her official government account. By the way, asylum is legal immigration. But anyway, back to Noem’s tweet. “My message to illegal immigrants... call me when you're an American.”
The tweet comes after a number of Republicans have taken the very pro-life and pro-family stance of informing the Biden administration that asylum-seeking kids seeking safety in the U.S. can also stay the hell out of their states, please and thank you.
“Gov. Ricketts rejects request to house migrant children in Nebraska,” Omaha World-Herald reported this week. “This is not our problem; this is the president's problem,” Iowa’s Kim Reynolds said. But it’s not enough to tell off the president. Nope. Noem wants asylum-seekers to also be included in the berating:
So Noem shows how Twitter can truly be a flaming dumpster fire of assholery. But the platform can also be used to push back on these garbage views, as a number of folks showed. While South Dakota is home to a smaller number of immigrants (about 35,000 in 2018, the American Immigration Council estimates) they “make up a critical share of the state’s labor force,” the organization said, and El Paso Rep. Veronica Escobar noted:
CBS News correspondent David Begnaud tweeted that he got a direct message from a physician in the state. “I’m absolutely horrified,” this doctor wrote to him. “She is as un-Jesus like as possible. Especially after the Smithfield debacle and our history of Native American issues this is as low as it gets.” Others on Twitter made similar observations.
“The irony of this cruel message from the South Dakota Governor is that South Dakota only exists b/c thousands of white undocumented immigrants from Europe used the Homestead Act from 1860-1920 to steal land from Native Americans w/o compensation or reparations,” human rights attorney Qasim Rashid tweeted.
Topping this all off is the July 2020 tweet that Noem had pinned to her account as of Wednesday afternoon. It appears to be a tweet promoting the state. “There's no place in America like South Dakota. We'd love to have you join us,” it read. “Come grow your company; live your life; achieve your dreams.We can make it happen for you right now, because South Dakota Means Business.” Unless you’re an asylum-seeker. Then, the message is: Stay Out.