South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is tying national security to a personal moment she says still lingers with her: a final text message from conservative activist Charlie Kirk before he was assassinated earlier this month.

“The last message he had texted me was the day before he passed away,” Noem said in a recent interview. “It said, ‘We have to hold these mayors and local officials accountable for what they’re doing.’”

Noem described Kirk as watching with alarm as local governments, in his view, allowed communities to suffer from “illegal criminal activity.” She admitted she hadn’t responded, caught up in travel and meetings in another time zone. “I will always feel bad that I didn’t respond,” she said.

Kirk’s murder has reverberated across conservative politics, prompting allies like Noem to frame his words as a call to accountability and vigilance.

Noem criticized the Biden administration’s approach, saying leaders “didn’t even try to close” the border. She painted a grim picture of what she believes officials have ignored: children going missing, trafficking rings flourishing, and migrants crossing the border repeatedly with different adults. “They knew all that was going on,” she said. “And they just went to bed at night.”

She also said she wonders how officials could sleep at night “knowing the vulnerabilities they were creating for this country and the people they were letting in.”

Noem’s comments come as she continues to position herself as one of the Republican Party’s sharpest critics of President Biden’s immigration policies. At the same time, she’s carrying the weight of Kirk’s final words, which she interprets as both an admonition and a charge for elected leaders to act.

“He wanted someone to be held accountable,” Noem said. “That’s what he believed, and that’s what I believe too.”