Crime & Law
Homeland Security Plans to Purchase More Buildings in Chicago for ICE, Noem Says
Personnel walk inside an immigration processing facility in Broadview, Ill., Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo / Paul Beaty)
The Department of Homeland Security is looking to purchase more buildings in Chicago to operate out of, Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday.
“We’re going to not back off, in fact we’re doubling down and we’re going to be in more parts of Chicago in response to the people there,” Noem said at a cabinet meeting at the White House. “I was there a few days ago and looked at a few facilities we can deploy more law enforcement out of.”
Noem did not specify what properties the department is looking at to purchase. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an inquiry as to what properties are being looked at.
Noem visited the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility last week. Conservative YouTuber Benny Johnson accompanied Noem during her visit and posted a video of them touring an empty warehouse in an unspecified location.
The Broadview facility has seen heightened protests and aggression from ICE agents for weeks, deploying tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets against crowds of protestors.
On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that ICE agents at Broadview cannot use “riot control weapons” like tear gas, pepper spray or less lethal bullets against reporters, protestors and members of the clergy who aren’t posing an immediate threat to law enforcement.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis on Thursday granted a temporary restraining order sought by a group of Chicago journalists who claimed their First Amendment rights had been violated by federal immigration agents at a suburban processing facility.
That order took effect Thursday morning and is set to last for 14 days.
Contact Blair Paddock: @blairpaddock.bsky.social | [email protected]
