Kristi Noem refused JB Pritzker’s appeal to pause ICE operations for Halloween, instead assuring they’ll be out “in full force.”
While speaking on Fox News, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary revealed she rejected the Illinois Governor’s appeal to her earlier Thursday to let Chicago kids enjoy the holiday without fear of ICE intervention. Instead, the city should expect an increase in presence, she said.
“No, we’re going to be out on the streets in full force and increase our activities to make sure kids are safe,” Noem said. “Every day in Chicago, we’re arresting murderers, child pedophiles, those who have perpetuated assault and pornography against children. We’re going to be out there to make sure that they can be safe, enjoy the holidays, spend some time with their families and their neighbors and their communities, and they don’t have to be the victim of a crime because of these illegal aliens that are in our country victimizing them.”
Pritzker made his plea during a press conference earlier Thursday. He explained that he sent a letter to Noem asking for an ICE break so kids and families could enjoy the holiday cheer without the presence of government officials and threat of detainments.
“I’m asking for basic human decency,” Pritzker said. “I think their response will be revealing. They’ve disrupted everything for more than two months already. Give the children and families of Illinois a break.”
The governor has increasingly spoken out against the Trump administration’s ongoing ICE raids in Chicago over the last several weeks. Despite denying he compared the president to Hitler earlier while interviewing with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on Monday, just lat week, he drew parallels at The Economic Club of Chicago between Trump’s leveraging of ICE and the border patrol to the Nazis.
“This is how authoritarian regimes do it,” Pritzker said. “They create these kind of fake ideas that there’s an enemy out there and it could be sitting next to you at one of these tables. So just somebody sitting at your table that you don’t like might be one of those enemies. So let’s round them up, let’s make sure they are the subjects of the laws that we’re passing, because we don’t like who they are. That is what authoritarian regimes do.”
He added: “I can tell you, sitting next to Holocaust survivors, that what they will say in this moment is, ‘This is what happened. This is what happened — people’s rights started getting taken away. People got accused of being immigrants’ — this is before the Holocaust really took place.”
