LOMBARD, Ill. () Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will address federal immigration officials’ efforts Friday, including three recent operations in the Chicago area that ended in the seizure of fentanyl, money and weapons being moved by migrants who entered the United States illegally.
Noem, along with White House border czar Tom Homan, has continued to address Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s focus on arresting those the Trump administration has deemed “the worst of the worst”.
Friday’s news conference in suburban Chicago will feature photos of immigrants who have been arrested by ICE, including a Mexican man who was arrested and charged with child sexual assault, a Polish man who has been arrested and charged with attempted murder and a Honduran man who was arrested and charged with child sexual assault.
Noem has continued to speak out against what she says is an increased number of assaults directed at ICE officers. On Thursday, Noem said assaults have spiked “by 1,000%” from this time in 2024 and blamed so-called “sanctuary” cities like Chicago for vilifying federal immigration efforts.
In a social media post on X, the Department of Homeland Security wrote that Noem is in Chicago “to expose the deadly cost of sanctuary policies.” Even before Noem’s news conference began, protesters gathered across the street from the DHS Homeland Security Investigations office in Lombard, Ill., and were monitored by local police.
Noem is also expected to address the topic of the administration’s expansion of immigration detention centers. More than $45 billion in President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”, now law, has been earmarked for additional facilities.
Earlier this week, Noem announced the Department of Homeland Security had signed an agreement with the state of Indiana, where ICE will use 1,000 detention beds at a correctional facility that Noem has called the “Speedway Slammer.”
