Noem Denied Bathroom Access in Illinois Amid Escalating Feud With Democrats

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Friday that she and members of her team were denied access to a restroom in a federally funded Illinois government building — a move that underscores the growing hostility between the Trump administration and Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker.

According to Noem, her staff stopped briefly at the Village of Broadview Municipal Building near Chicago when they were blocked from entering.

“My team and I were just blocked from accessing the Village of Broadview Municipal Building in Illinois,” Noem wrote on X. “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. This is how JB Pritzker and his cronies treat our law enforcement. Absolutely shameful.”

A short video posted by a DHS staffer shows Noem and aides calmly standing outside the building’s entrance as a woman inside refuses to allow them in.

“No, you cannot,” the woman says through the glass.
“OK, all right, thank you,” Noem replies before walking away.

The incident comes amid intensifying clashes between federal immigration authorities and Illinois Democrats over enforcement actions near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview — where agents recently deployed nonlethal crowd control measures against protesters blocking access to the building.

Village Officials Attempt Damage Control

Local officials tried to spin the event, claiming Noem had shown up unannounced “asking for a meeting” with Mayor Katrina Thompson rather than simply seeking to use the restroom.

“Since DHS Secretary Kristi Noem appeared this morning, unannounced, at Broadview’s Village Hall asking for a meeting while Mayor Katrina Thompson was out of the building, the mayor returned her visit,” said village spokesman David Ormsby.

He added that Thompson and the local police chief later went to the ICE facility to demand that agents dismantle a “perimeter fence” she called “illegal.”

DHS Fires Back

The Department of Homeland Security strongly rejected the claim that Noem was seeking a meeting.

“She didn’t ask for a meeting. She asked to use the restroom,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News. “This is insane.”

Broader Political Feud

The timing of the confrontation wasn’t accidental. Just hours earlier, Pritzker accused Noem of enabling “gross misconduct” by federal agents in Illinois.

“Last time when the secretary was here, she snuck in during the early morning to film social media videos and fled before sunrise,” the governor’s office claimed.
“It’s been nearly 45 days since Secretary Noem has held an official press conference, so it’s time she faces the public and takes questions from the press to be held accountable for the Trump administration’s gross misconduct.”

The governor’s statement continued:

“Illinois is not a photo opportunity or a war zone. It’s a sovereign state where our people deserve rights, respect, and answers.”

Noem’s office swiftly dismissed the remarks as political grandstanding, accusing Pritzker of neglecting his state’s crime and immigration crises.

“Grow up and start protecting the people of your own state,” McLaughlin shot back. “Federal law enforcement has to be here because JB Pritzker refuses to do his job and has allowed violent illegal alien criminals to terrorize Illinois communities for years.”

The dust-up reflects a wider national struggle between the Trump administration’s law-and-order policies and Democrat-controlled states that continue resisting federal enforcement efforts — even at the expense of basic civility.