Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was denied entry to Broadview City Hall in the Chicago suburbs as she attempted to use the building’s bathroom.
A video shows Noem and others attempting to enter the building before a man held the door shut.
Noem asks, “[Are we] not allowed in?” A different person asks if they can use the “restroom.”
A man inside said, “No, you cannot.” Noem and her crew then walk away before she noted that the resistance is “what Governor Pritzker calls cooperation.”
Noem lamented the incident in an X post, noting “Broadview receives at least $1 million in federal funding every year.”
“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. 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,” she wrote.
Noem said they were in the area to conduct “some operations” and arrest people with criminal convictions.
A Broadview village spokesperson disputed that the bathroom was the only reason she was at the building. Village spokesperson David Ormsby told NBC Chicago Noem appeared “unannounced” at the Village Hall, asking for a meeting while Mayor Katrina Thompson was out of the building.”
“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,” Ormsby said. “Additionally, we are distressed to hear that the bathrooms are unavailable at the ICE facility.”
Noem was seen at the Broadview ICE facility earlier in the day with Border Control Commander Greg Bovino. Like many others within the country, demonstrations have been ongoing outside the facility.
The Trump administration is beginning its “Midway Blitz” immigration operations in Chicago and uses the Broadview ICE facility to assist in their campaign.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY TRYING TO RAM ICE OFFICERS IN ILLINOIS
Gov. JB Pritkzer’s (D-IL) spokesperson criticized the actions of law enforcement near the ICE facility and the enforcement methods of immigration agents.
“In addition to their inhumane tactics on immigration enforcement, they have grossly mishandled and incited tensions at the Broadview facility,” the spokesperson said. “This includes firing chemical agents at protesters and media, arresting a reporter, slamming people to the ground, and wreaking havoc on Broadview residents and nearby businesses.”
