A number of South Dakotans tell Politico they don’t expect any ICE raids in Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s home state anytime soon given that removing even a fraction of the farm labor workforce would completely cripple its agriculture industry, particularly the dairy sector.
“It would be a political disaster if she did,” said former Dem state Representative Kathy Tyler, adding that Noem showing up in her militia Barbie getup would remind people about how lax she was on the issue when she was governor. Former state Ag Commissioner Walt Bones, who himself got slapped with fines for employing some not legal fellas, keeps lobbying for shit that will never happen.
“The focus now is bad actors – the folks with criminal records who are here and committing crimes and are not stellar citizens and who are not contributing to society. My hope is that, let’s focus on those folks, and in the meantime, let’s try to get some policies in place so that we can keep our good people here who are contributing,” Bones said, but might as well have been using “family-oriented.”