South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is dancing on America’s demographic grave. This week, she gleefully celebrated new census data showing a “massive number” of people leaving the United States. Instead of concern, she saw vindication. Instead of alarm at brain drain, worker shortages, and political disillusionment, she spun it as proof of “failed liberal policies.”
When the chief of Homeland Security cheers people leaving—immigrants or citizens—you’re not looking at “law and order.” You’re looking at a political project designed to make America feel smaller, meaner, and less free. Since taking over DHS in 2025, Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem has run immigration like a marketing campaign: splashy TV spots telling people to get out, a rebranded app to usher them to the exits, and press releases written like attack ads.
Start with the language. DHS now touts that “1.6 million illegal aliens have left the U.S.” in the Secretary’s first 200 days—phrasing that’s both dehumanizing and non-standard in federal communications. It’s propaganda-speak, not policy-speak, and it signals that spin matters more than accuracy or due process.
The tactics match the tone. Noem retooled the Biden-era CBP One app into CBP Home—explicitly for self-deportation—and paired it with a $1,000 stipend and paid flights to encourage people to leave “voluntarily.” That makes for great TV, but it’s a bait-and-switch that can entangle people who might actually qualify for asylum or other relief.
Then there’s the ad blitz. DHS hired Republican-linked firms for a large TV campaign—featuring Noem—to warn immigrants inside the U.S. to depart and foreigners not to come, with placements running nationally and abroad (including Mexico). That’s not normal public information; it’s government-funded fear marketing.
Policy followed the promos. DHS has moved to unwind legal footholds—revoking or curtailing Temporary Protected Status and similar relief for groups like Venezuelans, Afghans, Cameroonians—while simultaneously scaling up ICE hiring for the largest deportation operation in modern history. The price tag is being fueled by the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which poured extraordinary sums into detention, removals, and PR.
Let’s be clear: public safety requires precision—targeting dangerous actors, following the law, respecting the courts. What Noem has built is the opposite: a numbers-first machine that treats humanity as a messaging problem. When the nation’s top homeland official measures success by how many people she can push out—and brags about it in campaign language—she’s not securing America. She’s shrinking it.
I’ll say it every damn day–this administration is full of deplorables.
We can’t escape this nightmare soon enough.
This article was originally pushed at Unmuted Nation.
