Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blasted Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to create “ICE-free zones,” telling Newsmax on Monday that the move is “really unfortunate” and undermines Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ efforts to enforce immigration laws and protect Americans.
Johnson, a Democrat, earlier Monday signed an executive order that created measures to prohibit federal immigration agents from using any city-owned property in their ongoing operations in Chicago.
Noem told “The Record With Greta Van Susteren” that Johnson’s order effectively bars ICE officers from entering city-owned property and pressures businesses to keep federal agents off their premises as well.
“It sounds like he’s taking all of his city property and certain businesses that may agree with him and not allowing our ICE agents to be in their parking lots or their facilities,” Noem said. “It’s really unfortunate because what they’re doing every day is going after individuals who have violated our laws, people who have committed crimes and hurt the American people.”
Noem said many business owners in Chicago privately support ICE but are “bullied by their local leaders” who threaten to withhold cooperation from police and fire departments if they defy the city’s policy.
“They know that if they have ICE vehicles in their parking lot, that’s not going to get them much goodwill with the local leadership,” she said.
Noem, who visited Chicago last week, said morale among agents remains high despite harassment from left-wing activists. She said threats against agents have grown more violent, including a car ramming and cartels offering $10,000 bounties to kill federal officers.
“I told them that when I was there just a couple of days ago, I don’t know what it must be like to stand there and to have these paid activists and terrorists stand there and scream in your face all day and say the things that they say, the words that they use, and saying they wish that violence on them, call them names, threaten their families,” she said.
“So I think they’re incredibly tough. When I spoke to them — and I spent most of the day with them — they were excited to be doing their jobs.
“They are excited to clean up the United States. But they said for the last four years, they felt like they facilitated this invasion.
“They used to process people. They said we were cramming people into detention centers under [former President] Joe Biden, but we were doing it to get them into the country as fast as possible,” Noem said.
“We were told by the president and his administration to get them into the country as fast as possible. He goes, ‘Now look at how hard it is to get these dangerous criminals out. They’re so thankful they have a president that will do it.'”
Noem also reflected on how her job has evolved since she joined President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in January, from initially shutting down the border to targeting drug and human trafficking cartels.
“I think the president is upset the more and more he hears the victims’ stories and sees that the press and that some of these Democratic law enforcement or Democratic leaders don’t focus on victims, don’t realize how people’s lives are getting better when we clean up a city like Washington, D.C., or go into Memphis [Tennessee] and places like that,” she said.
“So we are definitely focused on getting these bad actors out of the country. He realizes now is the time we have to save America.”
GET TODAY :
is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the channel on your cable system –
Sign up for and get , our streaming channel and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Even get Jon Voight’s special series and President Trump’s comedy programs and much more!
Watch on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch anytime, anywhere!
Start your now:
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
