President-elect Donald Trump is expected to announce soon that he has selected South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as his secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, sources told ABC News on Tuesday.

When news of her possible nomination was first reported by CNN earlier Tuesday, some Republicans expressed concern — but it does not appear to have changed the direction of Trump’s pick, the sources said. The role would require Senate approval.

As Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security, one of Noem’s biggest duties is expected to be overseeing Trump’s border policies, including the big campaign promise of “mass deportations,” alongside Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan and White House deputy chief of staff , Stephen Miller. .

Noem has taken a similarly aggressive stance on immigration over the years.

In 2017, while serving as the state’s at-large representative in the U.S. Congress, she supported Trump’s so-called “Muslim travel ban” and said she shared Trump’s “concerns about our ability to screen refugees — especially those from terrorist hotbeds.” “

In 2021, she opposed Afghan refugees entering South Dakota during the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, even though she had taken in Syrian refugees in 2019 under the Trump administration. Earlier this year, she spent millions of dollars from the state’s Emergency and Disaster Fund. to deploy the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas.

Following Trump’s victory in the election, Noem expressed excitement about Trump’s immigration plans, praising the president-elect’s deportation and border plans in multiple interviews.

In an interview on NewsNation on Friday, when asked about the potential costs of Trump’s promised mass deportations, Noem said: “It’s going to be a major operation, and President Trump has already indicated that he wants to start by making sure that we deport the most dangerous first – those criminals, murderers and rapists, who threaten safety in our communities – they will be the first on the list to go.”

On Thursday, Noem said in an interview on Newsmax that Trump’s “No. 1 priority will be this border. We need to secure our country, and we need to get the murderers, terrorists and rapists out of this country. and make America safe again. That’s really what his goal is. And I’m so proud of him for working so hard on it right away.’

Noem officially endorsed Trump at a rally in South Dakota last September and has been actively campaigning for him since then — including holding Trump surrogate events in the run-up to the critical Iowa caucuses, recruiting donors at fundraisers and serving as one of Trump’s surrogates at the ABC News presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

At one point earlier this election cycle, Noem was one of several names floated as possible contenders for Trump’s running mate. She had been open about her desire to join a possible second Trump administration, saying she would join the Trump ticket “in a heartbeat” and saying, “I will help him any way I can,” even though she emphasized that she loves being governor of South Dakota. .

Earlier this year, she was embroiled in a series of controversies, including scrutiny and a lawsuit over her social media endorsement of a dental work she received from a Texas practice.

She was also criticized for writing in her new memoir about how she shot her 14-month-old dog ‘Cricket’ after it displayed an ‘aggressive personality’, and was forced to admit what she called ‘mistakes’ in her book, including claiming she once met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. According to the publisher, that description has been removed from the book.

Still, Trump defended and praised her amid last year’s controversy, saying she has had “tough” days but that he likes her “a lot.”