Department of Homeland Security Secretary reported that she and members of her team were “blocked” from entering the Village of Broadview (Illinois) Municipal Building on Friday after stopping for what she described as “a quick bathroom break.”
In a post on X, Noem noted that the Village of Broadview “receives at least $1 million in federal funding every year.”
She shared a video clip showing Noem and several others approaching the building entrance. As a man inside holds the door shut, a member of Noem’s group asks if they can use the restroom, to which he replies, “No, you cannot.”
“We can’t?” Noem asks before the man reiterates his refusal and adds curtly: “Please don’t block the door.”
As she walks away, Noem says, “Okay, alright, thank you. Interesting.” Pointing toward the door, she adds, “That’s what Governor [JB] Pritzker says is cooperation in keeping people safe.”
Asked by a reporter what had happened, Noem replied, they had come to conduct some operations, “to pick up some guys with criminal convictions on them and the city police wouldn’t even let us use the restroom.
“So, as much as these local leaders and governors talk about cooperating and having the backs of law enforcement, this is what we have to put up with every single day.
“And all we’re doing is getting criminals and terrorists and cartels and gang members off the streets to make families safer. It’s ridiculous.”
Ahead of Noem’s visit to Illinois, Pritzker’s office released the following statement:
Federal agents reporting to Secretary Noem have spent weeks snatching up families, scaring law-abiding residents, violating due process rights, and even detaining U.S. citizens. They fail to focus on violent criminals and instead create panic in our communities.Secretary Noem should no longer be able to step foot inside the State of Illinois without any form of public accountability. Last time when the secretary was here, she snuck in during the early morning to film social media videos and fled before sunrise. It’s been nearly 45 days since Secretary Noem has held an official press conference, so it’s time she faces the public and takes questions from the press to be held accountable for the Trump Administration’s gross misconduct.Illinois is not a photo opportunity or war zone, it’s a sovereign state where our people deserve rights, respect, and answers.
Broadview, Illinois, located about 12 miles from downtown Chicago, is home to the area’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing facility. Earlier on Friday, Fox News reported that “more than a dozen people were arrested by federal agents during demonstrations.” According to the report, agents deployed “pepper balls, tear gas, and rubber bullets to disperse crowds blocking federal operations.”
One might reasonably ask: how else were ICE agents expected to bring the demonstrations to an end?
Pritzker and other blue-state governors seem willfully blind to the way their resistance to federal crime-fighting efforts is being received outside their political bubble. What they portray as standing up to President Donald Trump increasingly looks to ordinary voters like standing in the way of safer streets, stronger communities, and a functioning justice system.
The message they are sending — intended or not — is that ideology and partisan posturing matter more than the safety of their constituents. That kind of arrogance carries a political cost. At a time when polls consistently show crime, public safety, and the deportation of illegal immigrants ranking among the top concerns for voters, dismissing federal help doesn’t come across as bold leadership — it comes across as reckless indifference. And voters who feel abandoned in their own neighborhoods will remember exactly who chose confrontation over protection.
I hope they keep up this behavior through the midterm elections.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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