PIERRE, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) President-elect Donald Trump is expected to confirm his choice of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to head the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration advocates across the country are preparing for their agenda at the border. Governor Noem has spoken to the state legislature about what she calls an “invasion” of “Mexican drug cartels,” and was banned from all nine reservations in South Dakota after saying Tribes were “personally benefiting” from them. She also appeared on the campaign trail with Trump, who’s promised to deport millions of people. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick with the American Immigration Council says the big question is whether Congress will support the Trump administration’s goals.

  “Mass deportations are enormously expensive. And without tens of billions of dollars of additional funding from Congress, it remains to be seen whether any of the deportation plans we’ve seen the incoming administration roll out are actually feasible.”

During the last Trump presidency, the D-H-S saw five different confirmed and acting secretaries. Reichlin-Melnick says Trump’s team will be paying close attention to the department.

As D-H-S secretary, Noem would be in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection. Reichlin-Melnick says there are significant bottlenecks in the process that could slow down mass deportation efforts, including 3-point-7 million pending cases in immigration courts.

  “Realistically speaking, the immigration enforcement apparatus is massive and cannot be rapidly turned around overnight. An immigrant who’s arrested on January 21st may not even see a judge to face deportation for years. “

He says another potential bottleneck is Trump’s appointments of Stephen Miller as his deputy chief of staff and Tom Homan as what’s been dubbed a “border czar.” Reichlin-Melnick says the two have expressed differing opinions on mass deportations.