West Cook News

Steve Cortes, founder of the League of American Workers (LAW), said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem being blocked from entering a public building in Broadview is an example of “lawlessness under” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D).

“This is what lawlessness under J.B. Pritzker and Brandon Johnson looks like,” Cortes told West Cook News. “Days after federal agents arrested illegal alien murderers and rapists in Chicago, Secretary Noem is blocked from a public building.“

”That’s contempt for law enforcement and contempt for the American people,” said Cortes.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X earlier today that she and her team was ”blocked from accessing the Village of Broadview Municipal Building in Illinois. 

“We were stopping for a quick bathroom break. This is a public building,” said Noem. “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.”

Anti-law enforcement protests have repeatedly broken out at the Broadview ICE facility, where officers in riot gear and gas masks have been deployed to control demonstrations, reported NBC Chicago.

Pritzker had fanned the flames of the protests earlier in the day when he said, “she (Noem) doesn’t even deserve to set foot in this state,” reported CBS News Chicago.

Federal agents recently announced the arrest of more than 800 individuals in Illinois in “Operation Midway Blitz,” which targeted criminal illegal aliens with violent histories, reported Chicago City Wire. Among those arrested in the operation was an illegal alien El Salvadoran rapist, in addition to a collection of felons from various countries with charges including sexual assault, drug possession, burglary, and homicide. 

“This is what we have to put up with every single day,” Noem said in a video posted on X. “All we’re doing is getting criminals and terrorists and heroin and gang members off the streets to make families safer.”

Noem was confirmed as Homeland Security Secretary in January 2025. She previously served as the governor of South Dakota from 2019 to 2025. Before her time as governor, Noem represented South Dakota’s at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019, where she served on committees overseeing agriculture and armed services.

Cortes is a former Trump campaign adviser. He previously worked in finance and later became a frequent political analyst on CNBC, CNN, and Fox News, where he emphasized populist themes and Latino outreach.