Ousted DHS secretary Kristi Noem was at center of Chicago immigration controversies

From midnight raids to shootings, Kristi Noem, who was fired as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security by President Trump Thursday, was at the center of many of the controversies of Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago.

Trump announced Noem was being replaced by freshman Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin in a post to Truth Social, and said she will move to a role as a special envoy for The Shield of the Americas, a new security initiative his administration will unveil in the coming days.

Illinois and Chicago politicians were quick to celebrate her ouster, with Pritzker posting a video on X.com saying, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out," and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson saying in a statement that she "will not be missed in Chicago."

Noem has been the central figure of increasingly controversial and violent actions taken by agents with DHS, including in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and elevated former CBP Commander Gregory Bovino to his leadership position before Operation Midway Blitz was launched in Chicago.

Noem was named in multiple lawsuits stemming from the immigration crackdown in the Chicago area, with some of those court battles still ongoing.

CBS News Chicago legal analyst Irv Miller said, although she's named as a defendant in those lawsuits, her departure from Homeland Security doesn't change much in court.

"If it says she's being sued in her official capacity as head of the department, what's going to happen is the name of the new head of the department – once that person is confirmed – that will take the place of her name," Miller said.

But Noem's not off the hook if her testimony is needed in those cases.

"If she's subpoenaed to come in, whether or not she's working for the government as the head of an agency or working somewhere in the private sector, if subpoena is served on her, she has to come to court and testify," Miller said.

Here are some of her notable controversies in Chicago.

U.S. citizens detained in Elgin, Illinois house raid

On Sept. 16, 2025, heavily armed feral agents swarmed a home in suburban Elgin, Illinois, in the early morning hours, detaining seven people including two U.S. citizens.

Witnesses said shortly before 6 a.m. they heard what sounded like an explosion, and the sound of helicopters outside. They saw armed agents shining flashlights and a door and into windows.

Agents busted in the front and back doors of the home, detaining seven people including U.S. citizens. Noem posted a video produced about the raid to her social media accounts, in which she also mentioned the fatal shooting of an undocumented father in Franklin Park days earlier.

DHS had claimed that man had dragged and severely injured an ICE agent with his car in their justification for the shooting, though bodycam footage later revealed the agent described his own injurie as "nothing major."

Midnight South Shore apartment raid terrifies residents

Less than two weeks after the Elgin raid, on Sept. 30, 2025, dozens of armed federal agents in full tactical gear, some arriving in an armored truck and a Blackhawk helicopter, descended on a South Shore apartment building in the middle of the night.  

The residents were all detained, including women and children. Many were zip tied, and many weren't fully dressed. Witnesses told CBS News Chicago they saw them putting people into the back of trucks and into buses.

Inside the agents busted holes in the walls and doors. Noem was seen at the scene of the raid, and later shared a heavily produced, movie trailer-like video of the raid to her social media accounts, though the video has since been taken down due to copyright violations claimed over the music used.

Noem claims Marimar Martinez, shot 5 times by Border Patrol agent, was a "domestic terrorist"

On Oct. 5, 2025, federal agents shot a woman in the city's Brighton Park neighborhood after DHS officials said they had been "boxed in" by protesters opposing immigration enforcement operations.

DHS claimed U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents were "boxed in by 10 cars," and that one driver had a gun, which they claimed was a semi-automatic weapon. As a result, DHS said, agents opened fire, striking the driver. The agents fired five shots while the driver was still inside her car.

The driver was later identified as 31-year-old Marimar Martinez. DHS officials repeatedly described her as a "domestic terrorist" who rammed federal agents with her car, even after prosecutors dropped the criminal case against her. The government later admitted in court that Martinez wasn't "ramming" their car at all. Evidence was later released showing Border Patrol agents bragging and joking about the shooting. 

Durbin grilled Noem about that characterization earlier this week in the Senate hearing.

"How did you think that calling them 'domestic terrorists' at that scene was somehow going to calm the situation?" Durbin asked.

"You know, senator, we were working in those situations where there is a tragic loss of life and there is something that our agents were involved in—" Noem responded.

"Is it so hard to say you were wrong?" Durbin interjected.

Noem claimed in her testimony this week she had not heard about the Martinez shooting. 

Martinez's lawyer said she was excited to hear that Noem had been fired Thursday.

"She took a break at school to call," he said. "She was very excited. I mean, I had to kind of temper her excitement saying, look, President Trump is going to pick the replacement here so we're not out of the woods."

Visits to Broadview ICE detention center

Noem visited the ICE detention center in Broadview, Illinois, in early October 2025 and was accused by detainees there of using them as props.

Two protesters who were outside the facility that day said they were arrested, zip-tied, brought with about a dozen other detained protester to a guardrail and lined up so that Noem could walk past them with photographers and cameras.

"Made to stand there for 40 minutes, not knowing what was happening. I was not told that I was accused of anything," Juan Munoz told CBS News Chicago. "It felt very much like we were just being used for this political theater." 

"Kristi Noem was able to walk past us, surrounded by photographers, videographers, essentially just getting us in the background as she walked by," said Kyle Frankovich. 

Both men said at the time they were in designated protest "free zones" when they were arrested by federal agents. They both accused federal law enforcement of wrongly detaining them and using them as props for Noem's visit. 

"It became very obvious that we were being held because of more political reasons," said Munoz.

Noem visits Gary, Indiana to announce immigration arrests

Noem visited Gary to hold a news conference with Indiana Governor Mike Braun, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons and other to announce arrests targeting truck drivers. The mayor of Gary did not attend.

Noem said federal immigration authorities, working with Indiana State Police troopers, had arrested 223 suspected unauthorized immigrants on state highways, including 146 truck drivers, as part of the operation.  

"If you are here driving on our streets illegally and our highways, you are endangering our citizens, and your days are numbered," she said.

During that visit, CBS News Chicago asked Noem if DHS could provide a list of people they had detained as part of an investigation into how many detainees in Operation Midway Blitz actually were convicted criminals; they never did. 

Data reviewed by CBS News at that time revealed the vast majority of detainees had no criminal record or no violent criminal record.