Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blasted Illinois officials Friday after she and her staff were “blocked” from entering a Chicago area government building while visiting an ICE facility that has been the focus of fiery protests for weeks. Noem, 53, posted video on social media showing her team outside the Village of Broadview Municipal Building, about 12 miles west of downtown Chicago, after they asked to use the bathroom. She tied the moment to a broader complaint about how the state treats federal agents.
“We were stopping for a quick bathroom break,” the DHS chief wrote on X. She added that the building is public and that “The Village of Broadview receives at least $1 million in federal funding every year.” In the same post she tore into Gov. JB Pritzker, saying, “This is how JB Pritzker and his cronies treat our law enforcement. Absolutely shameful.”
My team and I were just blocked from accessing the Village of Broadview Municipal Building in Illinois. We were stopping for a quick bathroom break. This is a public building. The Village of Broadview receives at least $1 million in federal funding every year.
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) October 3, 2025
This is how JB… https://t.co/vHxjSVh8LT
The clip, filmed by conservative commentator Benny Johnson, shows Noem and roughly a dozen plain clothed staffers approaching the door, asking politely to use the restroom. A man inside holds the door shut and yells back, “No, you cannot.” The group says “thank you” and walks away. Noem then turns to the camera and widens the frame, accusing the governor and local leaders of talking up cooperation while making everyday work harder for federal teams.
“So as much as these local leaders and governors talk about cooperating and have the backs of our law enforcement officers, this is what we have to put up with every single day and all we’re doing is getting criminals and terrorists and cartels and gang members off the streets.” she said in the video.
Broadview officials pushed back within hours, arguing the video lacked key context. Village spokesperson David Ormsby told CNN that Noem arrived at Village Hall without notice and asked to meet Mayor Katrina Thompson, who was not in the building at that moment. “The mayor returned her visit,” Ormsby said. He also said he was “distressed” to hear the bathrooms at the ICE facility in Broadview that Noem visited Friday morning were “unavailable.”
Ormsby said Thompson then went to the ICE center with Broadview Police Chief Thomas and officers to meet Noem there. “Mayor Thompson went to the ICE center, accompanied by the Broadview Police Chief Thomas, and officers …. The mayor was told by agents at the gate the secretary was unavailable to meet.”
Earlier that morning, Noem had been seen on the roof of the detention center, which has drawn waves of demonstrations and anti ICE protests in recent weeks. The visit was already drawing fire from the governor.
Pritzker took to social media to criticise as Noem’s video spread. “Secretary Noem should no longer be able to step foot inside the State of Illinois without any form of public accountability,” he said in one post. His office and Broadview officials did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Federal agents reporting to Secretary Noem have spent weeks snatching up families, scaring law-abiding residents, violating due process rights, and even detaining U.S. citizens.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) October 3, 2025
They fail to focus on violent criminals and instead create panic in our communities.
Both sides used the moment to make a larger point. Noem framed it as a simple request that turned into a symbol of what she calls a lack of support for federal law enforcement. Broadview described an unannounced drop in that they say they tried to accommodate, first at Village Hall and then at the ICE facility. With protests ongoing outside the detention center and state leaders trading public shots, the bathroom dispute became a snapshot of a bigger political fight playing out in real time.
