Kristi Noem digs in on cartels claim after she’s banned from most tribal land in South Dakota

South Dakota governor Kristi Noem has doubled down on her claims that tribe members are in cahoots with drug cartels operating on reservations in the state, leading to seven Native American reservations banning her from stepping foot on the land.

Ms Noem has now claimed in a recent NewsNation interview, according to The Hill, that she has evidence of cartel activity in the state and will present this apparent evidence to the public on Friday.

“They are [sic] definitely have set up operations in South Dakota. We’ve seen the Bandidos there, MS-13 is there,” the governor claimed in the interview. “They’ve recruited members from the tribes.”

Ms Noem has announced she will be holding a press conference at South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre on Friday morning to “discuss the crisis at our southern border and the negative impact the open border and cartel presence are having on South Dakota’s tribal lands.”

Thegovernor has previously alleged, with little evidence so far, that tribal leaders have been “personally benefitting” from cartel activity in the state, leading to Ms Noem being banned from a total of seven out of the nine Native American tribes as of Tuesday.

The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe was the latest to confirm that the tribe council had voted to ban the Republican governor from its reservation located in central South Dakota.

This means that the Republican leader is banned from entering almost 20 per cent of her state now that over 90 per cent of the state’s tribal lands have barred her from visiting the reservations.

«We do not have cartels on the reservations,» Crow Creek Sioux Tribe chair, Peter Lengkeek, told NPR following Tuesday’s vote.

«We have cartel products, like guns and drugs. But they pass over state