Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem delivered a blistering ultimatum to Portland’s Democrat Mayor, demanding immediate action to rein in the violent Antifa mobs besieging the city’s ICE facility, or face a surge of federal agents.
“No more political games,” Noem told Jesse Watters, describing a meeting with local law enforcement and the mayor in which she demanded a bigger buffer zone, open streets, and concrete security measures so officers and nearby residents could be safe to come and go.
When she says the mayor failed to give her the commitment she expected, Noem told Watters she warned him she would “cover him up with more federal resources”, specifically, four times the current federal presence, if Portland didn’t act.
She said federal CBP and ICE officers have been doing the heavy lifting to remove violent offenders and keep the facility safe — while city leaders have been “playing politics.”
Noem made clear she’s tired of local officials prioritizing optics over public safety.
Kristi Noem:
“I met with him and also the superintendent of the state police. I told them what we wanted: more security here at the building, a bigger buffer zone to keep our officers safe.We wanted to have their streets opened up again and not let the anarchists run this city anymore. We asked them to continue to back us up like we’ve been asking for—instead of what they’ve been doing for the last several months, which is just leaving our officers hanging out to dry.
The chief asked if I wanted to meet with the mayor, and I said, “Absolutely.” I came back and just met with the mayor, and I’m extremely disappointed. He’s continuing to play politics.
He did not commit to any of those promises and said that he’d give me an answer by tomorrow—and I’m hopeful that he will.
What I told him is that if he did not follow through on some of these security measures for our officers, we were going to cover him up with more federal resources.
We were going to send four times the amount of federal officers here so that the people of Portland could have some safety and security.
Today, Jesse, we went and got a sex offender off the streets here in Portland who had been violating minors, and we’re going to bring him to justice. This Portland mayor tried to brag about making our streets safer? No—absolutely not. It is our federal CBP and ICE officers who are cleaning up this city, and every single day, they’re going to stay dedicated to doing that.
Did any of these officials thank us for getting these pedophiles off the street? They said they were glad that was happening, but that they weren’t going to change their posture.
Here’s the deal, Jesse: they’re more scared of the anarchists down on the street right now—yelling horrible, horrific threats at our officers—than they are of the officers or the people who live in this city. Right next to this building is an apartment complex filled with people who deserve to be able to come in and out of their homes safely.
I asked the mayor, “Do you get to go home at night and walk from your car into your building safely? Do you get to drive to work and be safe while you do that?” I said, “Those people don’t get that opportunity.””
