President-elect Donald Trump's choice for Homeland Security secretary portrayed illegal immigration as an "invasion" and the U.S.-Mexico border as a "war zone" during a U.S. Senate confirmation on Friday where she pledged to back Trump's hard line on immigration.

President-elect Donald Trump was taken aback by the firestorm against South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) after she crowed about gunning down a 14-month wirehaired pointer named Cricket in her book

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Homeland Security, speaks with Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for her confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Noem vowed Friday to immediately halt the controversial mobile app that lets migrants register to enter the US.

Trump supporters love her. But the South Dakota governor will likely be asked about family separation at the border - and the dog she says she shot.

So far, Kristi Noem appears to have strong backing from GOP senators who will be crucial to her confirmation as head of the Department of Homeland Security.

Gov. Kristi Noem has ordered that the state's flags — which have been flying at half-staff since the death of President Jimmy Carter on Dec. 29 — be raised Monday to honor the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Kristi Noem, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), vowed at her Senate confirmation hearing to lead a crackdown on immigration by securing the "war zone" at the US-Mexico border and deporting unauthorised migrants.

After hearing that the South Dakota governor once killed a dog, the elder Trump is said to have told his son, "Even you wouldn’t kill a dog, and you kill everything."

Donald Trump Jr. recalled his father’s reaction to the shocking tale to Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt, who detailed it in his upcoming book Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power. “That’s not good at all,” Donald Trump reportedly told his son, according to the New York Post, which obtained a copy of the book.

The Guardian reports that when Trump Jr. visited the upscale Hotel Hans Egede for lunch, the “fans” wearing MAGA hats with him were actually homeless people picked up off the street who were promised a free lunch and didn’t find out who Trump was until later.