Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem responded to criticism from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker during an interview Sunday on CBS’s “Face The Nation.”

GOV. PRITZKER: What we won’t do, however, is engage in what is a federal effort, that is to say they have their job, immigration. We have our job, which is to fight violent crime on the streets of our city and by the way, we’re succeeding at that job, but when they bring people in and don’t coordinate with us, they’re going to cause enormous problems. … SEC. NOEM: Well, for 13 consecutive years, Chicago had more murders than any other American city. In fact, just last year, in 2024, they had three times the amount of murders that LA did, five times more than New York City. So he can talk about what a great job he’s doing as Governor, but he’s failing those families who will no longer have their child with them, their mother or their father or their cousin, aunt, and uncle that are gone forever because of the violence that’s happening in Chicago. So I was a governor for many years. So I recognize the responsibilities that you have on your shoulder when you’re a governor. And I’ll tell you, as a governor, when I had to make tough decisions, and when I had disagreements with the Biden administration or challenges my people were facing, I called up the Biden administration. I went and talked to them. I asked for meetings. I fought for my people. This seems like it’s more about Governor Pritzker’s ego, now, rather than actually protecting his people. If he has one murder in the city of Chicago, he should be calling President Trump and saying, what’s your ideas? What can we do? They don’t even honor our detainers in Chicago. They don’t go out there and work with us to make sure we’re bringing people to justice. And instead, he goes on TV and he attacks me when we’re doing exactly what those people need, is they need someone to help them get the dangerous criminals off their streets. And if he has 1, 2, 5, or 10, those victims and their families deserve to walk in freedom on those streets and not have to worry about what’s going to happen to them on their way to their jobs. ED O’KEEFE, CBS NEWS: Well, you anticipated some of the questions we asked of him. So, as we say in this business, stay tuned for that. But we’ll- let’s ask you a few more while we have you. Are you planning, beyond Chicago, to expand these kinds of operations to other cities? There have been reports, for example, that Boston may very well soon be next. SEC. NOEM: I think there are a lot of cities that are dealing with crime and violence right now. And so, we haven’t taken anything off the table. We’ve been making sure that we have the resources and the equipment to go in. We’ve been working to partner with every single agency that we can. We have hundreds and hundreds of agreements with local law enforcement, sheriffs, city administrators and mayors across the country that want to solve problems. I’d encourage every single big city, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, whatever they are, if they want to help make their city safer, more prosperous, allow people the opportunity to walk in freedom, like the people of Washington, DC are now, and enjoying going out to eat at night and not having to worry if they’re going to be a victim of a carjacking or a robbery, they should call us. Because we will work with anybody and do what we can to make sure that we’re upholding our Constitution, upholding the law, but making sure their families are safe.
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