Sec. Noem fires back after Gov. Pritzker begs to pause ICE and CBP operations for Halloween

Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem has denied Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's request to halt immigration enforcement operations for the Halloween weekend. Noem provided her response during a press conference on Thursday in Gary, Indiana, to provide updates on Operation Midway Blitz.

Pritzker said he wants the three-day pause to keep children safe from federal agents, who have had to deploy tear gas in response to locals getting violent and interfering with operations.

'We have individuals that we picked up off the streets with our ICE officers and CBP officers that have assault against a child, child pedophiles, rapes.'

"No, we're absolutely not willing to put on pause any work that we will do 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 make sure we're bringing criminals to justice and getting them off our streets," Noem said.

"We have individuals that we picked up off the streets with our ICE officers and CBP officers that have assault against a child, child pedophiles, rapes. Those individuals don't deserve to be on our streets, and we're certainly not going to let our kids be victimized by them," she added.

Noem announced Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested over 3,000 illegal aliens since the start of Operation Midway Blitz.

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Commander at Large of the US Border Patrol Gregory Bovino. Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

As the "Crossroads of America," Indiana has been working closely with ICE to arrest illegal aliens who are driving 18-wheelers and other large commercial vehicles in the aftermath of several cases involving illegal alien semi-truck drivers allegedly causing fatal accidents.

"Through that partnership, 223 illegal aliens have been arrested and taken off of our roads. Of those, 146 of them were drivers. That includes 46 semi-truck drivers and another 82 of them that were either box trucks, buses, moving vans, vehicles such as that," Noem explained.

The illegal aliens who were arrested were issued commercial driver's licenses from states such as California, Illinois, and New York.

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