'Sanctuary City' Mayor Threatens Kristi Noem - What She Did Next is Why Trump Chose Her
Noem Warns Portland Mayor: More Feds Coming If City Refuses Cooperation
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued a blunt ultimatum Tuesday to Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, warning that the Biden administration’s legal battles with the city won’t stop her from sending “four times the amount of federal officers” if local officials continue to resist cooperating with federal security operations.
Noem flew to Portland to tour the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility — a flashpoint for repeated protests — amid an ongoing legal dispute between Oregon state leaders and the Trump administration over the president’s plan to deploy National Guard troops to the city.
Noem told Fox News host Jesse Watters that she left her meeting with Mayor Wilson “extremely disappointed.”
“He’s continuing to play politics,” she said. “What I told him is that if he did not follow through on some of these security measures for our officers, we were going to cover him up with more federal resources — and we were going to send four times the amount of federal officers here so that the people of Portland could have some safety.”
Standing atop the ICE facility alongside federal agents earlier in the day, Noem accused Wilson of cowardice, saying his hesitation had endangered both citizens and law enforcement.
“He’s going to have blood on his hands because he sat around and thought too long,” she said. “He’s too scared of the political ramifications of making a big decision to keep his city safe.”
Noem claimed the unrest surrounding Portland’s ICE operations was being driven by “professional terrorists,” echoing the Trump administration’s argument that organized agitators were targeting federal facilities nationwide.
“That’s my concern — you’ve got so many people here in Portland playing politics,” she added. “They don’t realize they’re up against professionals who know exactly what they’re doing.”
Wilson’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News or other media outlets’ requests for comment. However, the mayor later issued a written statement describing his meeting with Noem as “cordial but deeply concerning.”
“What the secretary saw today matches our reports: Portland continues to manage public safety professionally and responsibly, irrespective of the claims of out-of-state social media influencers,” Wilson said.
He rejected Noem’s framing of the city as “out of control,” adding, “The tactics used by federal agents at the ICE facility are troubling and likely unconstitutional. We still do not know what ‘Full Force’ against Portland means, or how the administration plans to use our city as a military training ground.”
Wilson said he plans to “explore all options to protect our community and our right to free expression.”
Noem’s visit came two days after a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration’s plan to deploy National Guard troops to Oregon, ruling that the White House had not demonstrated a sufficient need for military intervention. The government has appealed the decision.
President Trump, for his part, has repeatedly described Portland as “war-ravaged,” saying local officials have allowed chaos to fester by refusing to cooperate with federal authorities.
“This is not about politics,” Trump said earlier this week. “It’s about restoring law and order.”
Local law enforcement officials dispute that characterization. Portland Police Chief Bob Day told CNN that unrest had been exaggerated by the national media.
“This is just one small block in a big city,” Day said. “Our officers are maintaining control.”
Still, Noem’s warning suggests that tensions between federal and local officials are far from cooling. Her threat to increase federal presence by “four times” — effectively a surge of tactical agents and DHS personnel — marks the most aggressive escalation yet in the administration’s ongoing confrontation with progressive-led cities.
“This is not a negotiation,” a DHS spokesperson said Tuesday evening. “Either Portland’s leadership steps up and secures federal facilities, or we will.”
Obama Accuses JD Vance Of Promoting ‘Blood And Soil’ Politics
Former President Barack Obama rarely mentions Vice President JD Vance by name, but that changed this week with one of his sharpest public attacks since Vance took office.
The comments immediately fueled speculation that Democrats are beginning to focus more attention on the vice president as Republicans look ahead to the post-Trump era.
Speaking Thursday during a conversation with author Malcolm Gladwell, Obama accused Vance of promoting what he described as a “blood and soil” vision of America, despite being married to Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants.
Obama made the remarks while discussing the Reconstruction era and arguing that many of the same debates over citizenship, voting rights and national identity continue today.
“We have a politics now that at least one of our major parties has been captured by politics that is not that subtle about suggesting that ‘We the people’ means a certain kind of people,” Obama said.
“When you have the vice president, current vice president, making a speech that is basically a blood and soil version of ‘We the people,’ that it matters who your parents were and how long they’ve been here despite him being married to a daughter of an immigrant himself.”
The phrase “blood and soil” is historically associated with Nazi Germany and white nationalist ideology.
Obama went on to argue that debates over who belongs in America remain central to the nation’s politics.
“That echoes, then, ideas about who can be a citizen, who belongs, who gets to make decisions,” he said.
Gladwell followed by accusing Vance of hypocrisy, arguing that the vice president was making what he called a nativist argument despite his own family’s immigrant background.
Obama agreed.
“That is progress,” Obama said.
“Listen, hypocrisy is progress. It is, because it means that you feel guilty enough to either lie to yourself or others.”
Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to Vance’s office for comment.
Obama did not identify the specific speech he was criticizing, but Vance’s most recent nationally televised remarks came during Independence Day celebrations marking America’s 250th birthday.
In that speech, Vance encouraged Americans to reject what he called a “two-dimensional view” of the country focused only on its historical failures.
“So what I’d ask you to do, my fellow Americans, on our 250th birthday, is to reject the two-dimensional view of your fellow citizens and reject the two-dimensional view of your country,” Vance said.
“Reject the view of your nation that sees only its sins, but not its grace and its greatness.”
He also emphasized that America’s accomplishments were achieved by “a common people working towards a common future.”
Obama has generally avoided making Vance a regular target since the vice president took office.
One notable exception came during the 2024 presidential campaign when then-Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
Without naming Vance directly, Obama contrasted Harris’ choice with the Republican ticket.
“When a presidential candidate chooses a running mate, it says a lot about who they are and what kind of president they’ll be,” Obama said at the time, Fox News reported.
Political observers have increasingly discussed Vance as a potential frontrunner for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, though he has not announced any plans to run.
Against that backdrop, Obama’s unusually direct criticism is likely to fuel speculation that some Democrats are beginning to sharpen their message against a politician they view as a likely future standard-bearer for the Republican Party. While no Democratic leaders have publicly described their strategy in those terms, prominent figures often begin drawing contrasts with potential future rivals well before a presidential campaign officially begins.
Whether that proves to be the case remains to be seen, but Obama’s remarks marked one of his most pointed critiques of Vance to date and ensured the vice president once again found himself at the center of the national political conversation.
