Gov. Noem Touts Wall-Building at Southern Border

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem took to Facebook on Friday to update her constituents on the state's wall-building efforts at the U.S.-Mexico border.

"'We don't complain about things – we fix them.' When my dad taught me that, he was talking about cows, horses, fences, and ranch chores, not the wide-open Southern Border. But the lesson holds true," Noem wrote in her lengthy social media post.

"The truth is, we could complain about President Joe Biden and Vice President (and Border Czar) Kamala Harris's failures at the Southern Border until the cows come home. Instead of complaining, South Dakota is doing our part to fix it."

According to Noem, the seventh group of South Dakota National Guard troops who had been deployed to the southern border recently returned home.

"The last few groups have all had the mission of working with Texas to construct the border wall," she said. "We sent an engineering company – we sent builders."

Noem said South Dakota guardsmen put up "more than five miles of border wall" and "fortified 20 miles-worth of wall with concertina wire." In addition, they "repaired 46 breaches" to the wall between Del Rio and Eagle Pass, Texas.

"I spent a day with them helping them build the wall – it wasn't easy work," she wrote. "They had to clear miles of rough ground in 100-degree heat and Texas humidity before they could get to work on barrier construction. But they were glad to do it in service to our country."

Despite her state being more than 1,000 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, Noem described the guardsmen's work as "crucial to keep South Dakota … safe."

"The sad reality is that due to the incompetence and mismanagement of our border, every state is now a border state," she wrote.

Control of the border with physical barriers makes it more difficult for drug cartels to traffic both drugs and people into the U.S., Noem said.

"We funnel the traffickers towards areas where we have a stronger presence," she said. "And if anyone does try to breach the barrier, we give law enforcement and Border Patrol precious time to respond. That's just common sense – but the Biden Administration abandoned common sense when they stopped constructing the wall."

While the Mount Rushmore State will continue to help build the border wall, Noem said it "shouldn't have to" and argued that the Biden-Harris administration is "leaving the border wide open on purpose."

The governor then said that another group of guardsmen is scheduled to deploy to the southern border in the fall and pledged to continue to "do everything we can to mitigate the cartels' influence here at home."

"I have seen such incredible patriotism and leadership from the South Dakota National Guard troops that we've deployed to the border over the years," she said. "The commander of the most recent detachments was a young female lieutenant who is working on her PhD in Animal Science at SDSU, meanwhile she is also an ROTC instructor. She's a leader. She's getting results. I wish that I could say the same about our current 'leadership' in the White House."

In the meantime, Noem vowed that her administration "won't complain about things" but will "continue to fix them."

"If the Biden-Harris Administration won't build the wall, we will," she said. "We will continue to do everything we can to keep our people safe."

• Gov. Noem Sending S.D. Guard to Help Texas Secure Border
• Polls: Majority Support Troops to Secure Border