Kristi Noem says Homeland Security 'purchasing more buildings in Chicago'

Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune on Oct 9, 2025

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CHICAGO — U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday the agency will expand the physical presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement beyond its Broadview facility by purchasing buildings throughout the Chicago area.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting in the White House, Noem said President Donald Trump has authorized the building purchases for ICE and said the agency was hardening its existing facilities because of threats of violence.

“We’re purchasing more buildings in Chicago to operate out of. We’re going to not back off. In fact, we’re doubling down, and we’re going to be in more parts of Chicago in response to the people there,” Noem said.

“I was there a few days ago and looked at some facilities that we can deploy more law enforcement out of, because what they’re trying to do with these riots and violence is distract us and keep us from going after those murderers and rapists that are out in the streets,” she said, noting her visit to Broadview last Friday.

Noem did not elaborate on where the building purchases would take place. But during the Friday visit, a video showed her speaking with ICE and federal Customs and Border Patrol agents at the Broadview facility and pointing at a nearby structure and saying, “We’re going to try to buy that building today.”

“So, give you more space. Let you spread out and tell everybody and send a message: We’re not just here, we’re here to stay, and we’re expanding and we’re going to make this city safe again,” Noem said last week.

During the Cabinet meeting, Trump thanked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for allowing the president to federalize and deploy National Guard troops from his state to Illinois and other states.

“I want to thank the governor of Texas, who has been, as usual, great, Gov. Abbott. He gave us 400 troops without even a question,” Trump said.

The president said federal forces were “directly confronting the sinister threat of left-wing domestic terrorism and violence” as he attacked Democrats such as Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for opposing the uninvited federal intervention.

“We stop crime, and they allow crime. They want crime. It doesn’t make sense,” Trump said.

Noem said while Illinois and Oregon officials are challenging Trump’s federalization of National Guard troops to the Chicago area and Portland, “we’re going to send more of our resources and men and women out there to keep everybody safe. So no worries.”

Noem cited Trump’s federalization of the National Guard in Washington, D.C. and in Memphis, Tennessee, as example of the “benefits for people in safety and security (and) we’ll see that in Chicago and Portland.”

Noem credited crime reduction in Memphis, where National Guard troops were welcomed by local officials, as showing “what a partnership can be between local law enforcement and the federal government” but “if we have to do it the hard way in Portland and Chicago, we will.”

Trump said Pritzker and Illinois Democrats “don’t want to have a safe Chicago, and we can solve the problem very quickly, and we’re doing that anyway, regardless of if he doesn’t want it or if he does want to. We’re doing it anyway.”

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