By Jack Phillips
The Trump administration will expand Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) efforts in Portland and Chicago soon, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
That will include purchasing buildings in the two cities amid increased federal law enforcement presence, she said.
“We’re purchasing more buildings in Chicago to operate out of. We’re not going to back off. In fact, we’re doubling down, and we’re going to be in more parts of Chicago,” Noem said, adding that snipers and security will be deployed at those buildings.
“I was in Portland on Tuesday, and met the governor, met with the mayor, met with the chief of police,” Noem said at the meeting, adding that she “told them if they didn’t meet our demands for safety and security on the streets and work with us, then we were going to bring in more federal law enforcement.”
Noem also said, “If we have to do it the hard way in Portland and Chicago, we will,” without elaborating.
Earlier this week, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying any National Guard units to Oregon, after President Donald Trump mobilized California troops for Portland after the same judge blocked him from using Oregon’s National Guard the day before.
Separately, a judge on Thursday blocked the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago area for at least two weeks, finding no substantial evidence that a “danger of rebellion” is brewing in Illinois amid efforts to deport illegal immigrants in the city.
The judge said the administration violated the 10th Amendment, which grants certain powers to states, and the 14th Amendment, which assures due process and equal protection.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday by Chicago and Illinois as National Guard members from Texas and Illinois were on their way to a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, southwest of Chicago. All 500 are under the U.S. Northern Command and had been activated for 60 days.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s office said on X that the situation in Chicago doesn’t need the National Guard troops, adding that the “brave men and women who serve in our national guards must not be used as political props.”
In a post on Truth Social this week, Trump wrote that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Pritzker, both Democrats, “should be in jail for failing to protect ICE Officers!”
Meanwhile, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said on X, “In my conversations directly with President Trump and Secretary Noem, I have been abundantly clear that Portland and the State of Oregon believe in the rule of law and can manage our own local public safety needs. There is no insurrection. There is no threat to national security.”
Before sending more agents and troops to Portland, Trump had described Oregon’s largest city in grim terms and said that left-wing terrorists had taken over parts of the city.
“It should be clear to all Americans that we have a very serious left-wing terror threat in our country, radicals associated with the domestic terror group Antifa that you’ve heard a lot about lately,” Trump said at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday. “In Portland, Oregon, Antifa thugs have repeatedly attacked our offices and laid siege to federal property in an attempt to violently stop the execution of federal law.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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