Noem slams Nashville mayor, highlights crime among illegal migrants

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gave a Friday morning update from Nashville, Tenn., about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s operations within the region and the country. Immigration officials arrested almost 300,000 illegal migrants since President Donald Trump resumed office in January, she noted. About 70% of those arrested have criminal convictions or charges pending against them, Noem added. Over 600 known or suspected terrorists have been deported, along with thousands of gang members, she said.

Noem specifically highlighted a swath of criminal migrants arrested in the Nashville area since January, including:

• An Iraqi man with previous convictions of rape, larceny, and false imprisonment

• A Guatemalan individual charged with three counts of child rape, sexual exploitation of a minor, and identity theft

• An El Salvadorian man with MS-13 gang ties who was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice and wanted for aggravated murder in his home country

• Two Venezuelan nationals with ties to the gang Tren de Aragua charged with promoting prostitution and evading arrest

• A Venezuelan man charged with homicide for allegedly stabbing his own wife to death

She also noted the previous arrest of the Salvadoran man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was arrested and accused of being an MS-13 member earlier this year. He was temporarily deported to a Salvadoran prison, but is now in Nashville facing federal human trafficking charges, Noem said. Abrego Garcia holds decades-long ties to MS-13, and his indictment painted the picture of a monster who abused women and solicited individuals for child pornography, she said.

What else did she say? Noem accused Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell of refusing to cooperate with ICE agents in the city. O'Connell is publicly revealing ICE agents’ information and encouraging people to work against them, Noem said. He’s now forcing all city employees to document every single interaction that they have with federal immigration authorities, she added. O'Connell is playing politics, and it's risking people's lives, she said.

WORLD reached out to O’Connell’s office for comment Friday afternoon. This story will be updated if and when a response is received.

DHS will continue working in Nashville and will have more resources to bring now that the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act passed, Noem added. Noem continued encouraging noncitizens to make use of the DHS’s offer of a free ticket home if they self-deport. She noted that Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, and Panama are starting programs to help returning nationals to get loans, employment, and education.

Dig deeper: Read my previous report on Trump calling for more ICE raids in urban hubs.