The man arrested for stealing the purse of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's is an illegal migrant, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia told NBC News on Saturday.
There is another illegal migrant connected to the crime, but there is no indication they targeted Noem for her role in deporting illegals.
"There is no indication it was because of that; it was frankly, it was a nice looking purse," Ed Martin told NBC News, adding Immigration and Customs Enforcement is now involved in actions against the thieves who made off with the purse containing $3,000 in cash, Noem's driver's license, medication, apartment keys, and blank checks.
"President Trump’s direction to us is we charge these folks that are here illegally and we prosecute them, as well as deport them when need be, you know, as soon as that can happen.
"What I can tell you is he won’t be back on the streets in America."
The thief was strategic in distracting Noem, wearing a COVID-era face mask, and reportedly used his foot to drag her purse from under her chair, according to the DHS spokeswoman earlier this week.
“This was not an amateur; this was a person, a thief, that knew how to do this," Martin told NBC News. "You could see how he scouted the room out."
The Department of Homeland Security secretary is protected by U.S. Secret Service agents.
"For the safety of our agents and officers, we are not in a position to confirm or comment at this time," United States Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told NBC News.
"Should criminal charges be filed, the Department of Homeland Security will provide public information in accordance with established procedures."
The thief walked into Capital Burger, a D.C. restaurant, walked past two plainclothes Secret Service officers sitting at the bar on his way to her upstairs table.
He sat down next to Noem's family's table, putting his foot on her purse to drag it toward himself, swiftly picking it up, tucking it under his jacket as he walked out past the Secret Service agents, according to the report.
"She could feel this person as they snatched her bag, but thought they were her grandchildren playing until realizing a minute later that her bag was gone," Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told The New York Times. "Her bag was under her feet and the perpetrator hooked the bag with his foot and dragged it across the floor and put a coat over it and took it."
Noem had the large sum of cash in her purse to pay for gifts, dinner, and other activities for her family on Easter Sunday, according to the report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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