Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed that some federal officers have been targeted by “gangs, cartel members, and known terrorist organizations” who have put bounties on their heads.
During an interview appearance on Fox & Friends Weekend, Noem warned that bounties being placed on federal agents’ heads marks a new “unprecedented” threat.
Noem described a violent incident in Chicago on Saturday that ended with agents shooting an armed suspect, saying that a caravan of 10 vehicles followed and cornered federal agents on duty.
“They had followed them [the agents] and gotten them cornered, pinned them down, and then our agents, when getting out of their cars, they tried to run them over, and had semi-automatic handguns on them to where our agents had to protect themselves, and shots were fired, and an individual ended up in the hospital that was attacking these officers,” Noem said, adding it was a “very dangerous situation.”
“This individual had threatened them previously and had told them that they all needed to go down and shouted expletives at them,” Noem said.
Noem said that intelligence reports have indicated the attackers were organized and had previously threatened agents.
“We have specific officers and agents that have bounties that have been put out on their heads. It’s been $2,000 to kidnap them, $10,000 to kill them,” the DHS secretary said. “They’ve released their pictures. They’ve sent them between their networks, and it’s an extremely dangerous situation and unprecedented.”
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When asked who was behind the bounties, Noem said that “it was gangs, cartel members and known terrorist organizations, so foreign terrorist organizations as deemed by the president but also ones that we have known for many, many years.”
She added: “They are making sure that they know which officers are out there and being extremely effective, and they want to take them down, because they want to try to stop the operations that are going, that are keeping them from making money off their criminal networks.”
Noem declared: “Our intelligence indicates that these people are organized. They’re getting more and more people on their team, as far as attacking officers, and they’re making plans to ambush them and to kill them. We have specific officers and agents that have bounties that have been put out on their heads. It’s been $2,000 to kidnap them, $10,000 to kill them. They’ve released their pictures. They’ve sent them between their networks, and it’s an extremely dangerous situation and unprecedented. So, we’ve put protective detail around those individuals, changed some of our operations to keep our officers safe.”
“Make no mistake, this isn’t just about protesting free speech or that they don’t like that people out here are upholding the law of our country. They’re actually going out there and saying kill these people and we’ll give you this much money to do it,” Noem added.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker whined to CNN on Sunday and claimed everything was President Trump’s fault.
“They [agents] were going after a few gang members, and instead, they broke windows, they broke down doors, they ransacked the place. And there were people that were held, I mean, elderly people and children zip-tied. Elderly people held for three hours at a time. They are the ones that are making it a war zone. They need to get out of Chicago if they’re not going to focus on the worst of the worst, which is what the president said they were going to do. They need to get the heck out,” Pritzker added.