Kristi Noem Defends Minnesota ICE Operations Amid Protests

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the Trump administration’s massive immigration crackdown in Minnesota, asserting that a federal judge’s ruling limiting federal agents’ practices “didn’t change anything.”

"These law enforcement officers are out there every day doing the work to protect the American people, and they will keep doing that because they believe in enforcing the law, which is exactly what President Trump has charged them with," Secretary Noem stated on CBS News' "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."

The response comes as a federal judge barred federal officers from using nonlethal weapons and pepper spray on peaceful demonstrators amid the protests in Minnesota. The judge also blocked federal agents from stopping or apprehending drivers and passengers when there is "no reasonable articulable suspicion" that people driving near protests are directly obstructing law enforcement operations.

"We only use those chemical agents when there's violence happening and perpetuating, and you need to be able to establish law and order to keep people safe," Secretary Noem responded. "So that judge's order didn't change anything for how we're operating on the ground, because it's basically telling us to do what we've already been doing,” she added.

The same week as Secretary Noem's comments, the Department of Justice (DOJ) additionally announced an investigation into a church service in St. Paul, interrupted by protestors, in which it was revealed that one of the congregation’s pastors was a local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.

Secretary Noem has placed the blame for violent incidents on local leadership and protestors.

She expressed that "the mayor and the governor have allowed this kind of violence to be perpetuated across Minneapolis," alleging it's "why there's other innocent people that are impacted throughout the city."

Since the operations began, several Texas politicians have expressed their opinions on the immigration crackdowns in Minnesota.

"As a civil rights attorney, I'm outraged by today's ICE shooting in Minnesota that took a woman's life. No family should lose a loved one this way. No community should live in this fear," former Congressman Colin Allred said of the Rene Good shooting.

"We've hit a breaking point in this country when an ICE officer is rammed by a lunatic in an SUV, and the Mayor of Minneapolis responds not with condemnation, but by telling federal law enforcement to 'get the [expletive] out!” U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Houston) shared.