Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem has blamed Illinois Governor JB Pritzker after she was blocked from using the restroom at a public building during a visit to an ICE facility in the state.
Video showed Noem and her team approaching the Village of Broadview Municipal Building, located in a suburb of Chicago, but being loudly refused by the staff inside.
“My team and I were just blocked from accessing the Village of Broadview Municipal Building in Illinois. We were stopping for a quick bathroom break,” Noem wrote on X.
“This is a public building. The Village of Broadview receives at least $1 million in federal funding every year. This is how JB Pritzker and his cronies treat our law enforcement. Absolutely shameful.”
Video captured by conservative commentator Benny Johnson, who was accompanying Noem and the DHS team, showed a man inside the building loudly responding, “No, you cannot!” to Noem’s request for entry to use the bathroom.
The secretary calmly replies, “OK, all right, thank you,” and walks away.
When asked by Johnson what had occurred, she replied: “A worker here for the city would not allow us to go in and to use a restaurant at the police station.
“So as much as these local leaders and governors talk about cooperating and having the backs of our 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 gang members off the streets to make families safer here, it’s ridiculous.”
She added, “This is a real problem. I’m so proud of our officers that deal with this every single day. They know that America’s got their backs, but what they face here every day is real prosecution.”
The incident occurred as Noem met with employees in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview. The meeting drew protesters, some of whom became agitated by newly installed barricades that separated them from law enforcement officers stationed outside, and several arrests were later made.
Broadview officials told Fox News that Noem and other DHS members had shown up unannounced on Friday morning and requested a meeting with Mayor Katrina Thompson, who was not there.
“Since DHS Secretary Kristi Noem appeared this morning, unannounced, at Broadview’s Village Hall asking for a meeting while Mayor Katrina Thompson was out of the building, the mayor returned her visit,” village spokesperson David Ormsby said in a statement shared with the outlet.
“Mayor Thompson went to the ICE center, accompanied by the Broadview Police Chief Thomas and officers, to ask for the illegal fence to be dismantled. The mayor was told by agents at the gate the secretary was unavailable to meet.”
DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin denied that Noem had been there for a meeting. “She didn’t ask for a meeting. She asked to use the restroom. This is insane,” McLaughlin told Fox News.
Following her meeting at the processing facility, Noem accompanied ICE agents on a raid near a local Walmart store.
