Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rejected a request from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to pause immigration raids on Halloween so children can trick-or-treat in peace, dismissing concerns over the psychological and physical trauma children are being subjected to.
Pritzker sent a letter to Noem Wednesday asking for the so-called “Operation Midway Blitz” operation in his state to be paused.
“No child should be forced to inhale tear gas or other chemical agents while trick-or-treating in their own neighborhood,” Pritzker wrote in the letter.
That was a reference to an incident that occurred Saturday in a residential neighborhood in Northwest Chicago. Illinois state Sen. Graciela Guzman said that, after she responded to reports of a citizen being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the area, agents used tear gas against her and her team during a Halloween event.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin admitted that “crowd control measures” were deployed during the confrontation.
When asked about Pritzker’s letter during a news conference on Thursday, Noem flatly denied the request.
“We’re absolutely not willing to pause any work that we’re doing to keep communities safe. The fact that Governor Pritzker is asking for that is shameful and I think unfortunate that he doesn’t recognize how important the work is that we do to ensure that we’re bringing criminals to justice,” she said.
ICE and Border Patrol agents have participated in the sustained abuse and denigration of immigrants and their communities—including U.S. citizens and even military veterans. Noem and her agency have frequently offered up lies about the criminal threat that immigrants pose.
As Trump’s handpicked anti-immigrant enforcer, Noem has been the front person for an abusive regime, and her latest comments prove that even children’s holiday events aren’t safe in Trump’s America.
Oliver Willis October 31, 2025 at 12:30AM From Daily Kos
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