The Yankton Sioux Tribe voted Friday to bar South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem from entering its reservation. The Sisseton-Wahpeton Ovate tribe made the same announcement just days earlier.
These two vetoes are in addition to four others - from the Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes - and mean that the governor has closed access to 20% of her state's territory, according to AP. According to it, only three tribes did not act against Noem.
Noem has had a bad relationship with the tribes for years. The latest controversy came last month, when the Republican said tribal leaders were "personally benefiting" from the presence of cartels on reservations.
"Tribals leaders should take action to ban the cartels from their lands," Noem wrote Thursday after learning of the latest ban. She also called on them to work together to "restore law and order to their communities" and accused the Biden administration of inaction.
Tribals leaders should take action to ban the cartels from their lands and accept my offer to help them restore law and order to their communities while protecting their sovereignty.
We can only do this through partnerships because the Biden Administration is failing to do their… https://t.co/QrR1LpxxdX
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) May 9, 2024
The news comes shortly after another controversy surrounding Noem: the governor said in her book, No Going Back, that she had slaughtered a dog by her own hand. Both controversies could affect her chances of being chosen as Donald Trump's running mate, although her team denies that she is still in the race. Asked late last year, however, she responded that if the offer came her way, "I would consider it."
