Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that “we haven’t taken anything off the table” when asked about expanding immigration enforcement operations to cities throughout the U.S.
“I think there’s a lot of cities that are dealing with crime and violence right now. And so, we haven’t taken anything off the table. We’ve been making sure that we have the resources and the equipment to go in,” Noem said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
CBS News reported last week that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning to expand its operations to Chicago in the coming days, mirroring the immigration arrest operation seen in Los Angeles earlier this year.
Noem said Sunday that there’s been “ongoing operations with ICE in Chicago and throughout Illinois and other states, making sure that we’re upholding our laws.” But she acknowledged that “we do intend to add more resources to those operations.”
Though she wouldn’t disclose details of the operation for the security of the law enforcement on the ground, Noem said “we will continue to go after the worst of the worst across the country, like President Trump has told us to do.”
The Trump administration has set its sights on a number of cities that limit local cooperation with federal immigration agents in recent months, bringing lawsuits against the so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions and pursuing other means of intervention. Noem’s comments also come as the president has zeroed in on fighting crime in the nation’s major cities, beginning with an effort in Washington, D.C., in recent weeks while he teased broader efforts elsewhere.
Earlier this month, Mr. Trump federalized the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department and deployed the National Guard to the district to assist law enforcement. While the president has unique authority over the D.C. National Guard because the district is controlled by the federal government, his deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles in June amid heated protests over immigration raids prompted a lawsuit from the California’s Democratic governor, who did not approve of the use of his state’s Guard forces.
On Sunday, Noem deferred to Mr. Trump when asked whether National Guard troops would be present in Chicago alongside the immigration enforcement operation, like they were in Los Angeles, saying “that always is a prerogative of President Trump and his decision.” DHS sources told CBS News last week that the immigration enforcement plans were separate from Mr. Trump’s threat in recent weeks to deploy the National Guard to Chicago to fight crime in the city.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has pushed back on the administration’s threats to intervene on crime in Chicago. And in an interview for “Face the Nation” Friday, he accused Noem of “inflaming passions and causing disruption that doesn’t need to be caused” with an immigration enforcement posture that he called “dangerous” and “un-American.”
“We have people that have lived, yes in the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago for decades, working here, paying taxes,” Pritzker said. “They’re law abiding members of our communities, friends, neighbors, and why are we arresting them? Why are we making them disappear?”
Pritzker urged that Chicago is succeeding in fighting violent crime, saying when the Trump administration opts to “bring people in and don’t coordinate with us, they’re going to cause enormous problems.” But Noem argued that the governor, “if he has one murder in the city of Chicago,” should be reaching out to the president and asking, “‘What’s your ideas? What can we do?’”
Meanwhile, Noem encouraged other leaders of major U.S. cities to work with the White House to make their cities safer. Pritzker noted to “Face the Nation” that his administration already does “a lot of work” with federal law enforcement such as the FBI and ATF.
“I’d encourage every single big city, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, whatever they are, if they want to help make their city safer, more prosperous, allow people the opportunity to walk in freedom, like the people of Washington, D.C., are now, and enjoying going out to eat at night and not having to worry if they’re going to be a victim of a carjacking or a robbery, they should call us,” she said.
Asked whether there are plans to pursue similar operations in Republican-controlled cities in red states, Noem said, “absolutely.”
“Every single city is evaluated for what we need to do there to make it safer,” Noem said. “We absolutely are not looking through the viewpoint at anything we’re doing with a political lens.”
Kaia Hubbard is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.
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