Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem took aim at the "obstructionist" policies of Chicago and Illinois overall, telling reporters Friday that the city has honored just 8% of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers in the months since President Donald Trump took office in January.
Noem slammed Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on his home turf, accusing him and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker of ignoring and hindering the Trump administration's efforts to remove criminal illegal immigrants from their communities at a press conference in the Chicago suburb of Lombard.
"I am here today because the elected leaders in this state of Illinois are ignoring the law, in fact they're being obstructionist when it comes to getting dangerous criminals off their streets," Noem said. "They're deciding that dangerous criminals that are murderers, rapists, money launderers, have committed assault, that are trafficking children are more important than the families that live in the communities here."
Noem said ICE has issued 1,664 detainers — written requests to law enforcement agencies or local jails to maintain custody of illegal immigrants for 48 hours beyond their release — in Chicago alone in seven months and 92% of those have been refused.
"That means every other person, when they're released from paying for the consequences of their crimes, back onto our streets without any notification to individuals or to the families that have been victimized by them, by getting those 8% at least, off of the street, the brave men and women of ICE are saving American lives," Noem said.
Noem made the remarks as guns and 20 kilograms of fentanyl that were confiscated from Illinois were displayed along with pictures of four illegal migrants arrested by ICE, calling them the "worst of the worst criminal aliens."
"These individuals would still be out on our streets today, committing crimes and attacking people and harming them and hurting our children, if Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson had their way, because their choice has been routinely over and over and over again to release these criminals back on the streets," Noem said.
A spokesperson for Johnson accused Noem of trying to "stoke fear and division."
"We don't harbor criminals, we arrest them. But we will not be a tool for militarized mass deportations," the spokesperson told NewsNation.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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