Department of Homeland Security boss Kristi Noem has said that more than 150 sexual predators have been snared in Florida as part of a new ‘Operation Dirtbag’.
‘ICE Barbie’ Noem said those arrested ‘targeted children’, and the operation was a pilot for a wider scheme the Trump administration hopes to roll out nationwide.
‘This operation was called Operation Criminal Return. I call it Operation Dirtbag, because these individuals were sex offenders, but not just sex offenders, they targeted children,’ Noem told Fox & Friends on Wednesday.
‘These 150 individuals will be gone off of our streets. Our kids will be safer.’
The operation targeted child sex offenders accused of crimes including sexual assault, battery and attempted homicide.
‘These individuals should have never been in our country to begin with,’ Noem added.
‘The fact that they were sexual deviants and perverts, and now we’ve gotten them off of our streets, it’s remarkable. And we need to do more of it.’
Noem added that the mass detentions were carried out with the help of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Department of Homeland Security boss Kristi Noem (pictured) has said that more than 150 sexual predators have been snared in Florida as part of a new ‘Operation Dirtbag’
Pictured: Detainees react as they stand at the recreational areas at the Krome Detention Center in West Miami, Florida on Friday, July 4, 2025
The operation targeted child sex offenders accused of crimes including sexual assault, battery and attempted homicide.
On September 8 the DHS also sent federal troops to Chicago, Illinois, where the Trump administration has been clashing with the city’s Democratic leadership.
Trump lashed out at Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in a social media post, warning him that he must straighten out Chicago’s crime problems quickly ‘or we’re coming.’
The Republican president has also been critical of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Johnson and Pritzker have pushed back against the expected federal mobilization, saying crime has fallen in Chicago.
But Trump declared victory on Tuesday night, saying crime rates had plummeted in the nation’s third-largest city thanks to his operation, despite ‘radical opposition’ from Pritzker.
‘I am proud to announce that Chicago, Illinois, despite all of the radical opposition and obstruction we have from the Mayor and the Governor, has seen car theft, shootings, robberies, violent crime, and everything else, drop dramatically,’ Trump announced.
Trump said that the Department of Homeland Security operation ‘Midway Blitz’ had resulted in a reduction in shootings by 35 percent, robberies by 41 percent and carjackings by almost 50 percent.
Trump said that the Department of Homeland Security operation ‘Midway Blitz’ had resulted in a reduction in shootings by 35 percent, robberies by 41 percent and carjackings by almost 50 percent
The president declared victory in Chicago after a weeks-long effort to purge the city of illegal immigrants and stamp out crime amid mass protests (pictured)
‘This is with just a small initial Federal Force, not the full ‘surge’ we have done in Chicago and Memphis,’ he added.
‘As we ramp up more assets, these numbers will continue to drop.’
Trump went on to boast that his feat ‘has been achieved despite the extraordinary resistance from Chicago and Illinois Radical Democrat ‘Leadership.’
He also blamed ‘the constant Violent Leftwing Terrorism against ICE Officers and Federal Agents that Insurrectionist Democrat Officials refuse to stop or prosecute, including constant physical assault and attempted assassination.’
Back in August, Pritzker warned: ‘Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here.
‘This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city… to try and intimidate his political rivals… It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. And it is un-American.’
After Trump sent in his agents anyway, Pritzker doubled down, insisting ‘there is no emergency in Chicago that requires the National Guard.’
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday night, Trump claimed that crime rates had plummeted since his intervention on September 8, despite ‘the radical opposition’ from Democrat Governor of Illinois JB Pritzker
Federal officials, ICE agents and Border Patrol authorities flooded Chicago in early September at Trump’s request, arresting thousands of illegal immigrants, violent criminals and gang members.
But their intervention ramped up violent protests in and around the city as locals attempted to interfere with ICE operations, ram cars belonging to federal officials and even shoot at agents.
‘Over the past two months, we’ve seen an increase in assaults and obstruction targeting federal law enforcement during operations,’ the DHS said in a statement last week after two border patrol agents were shot at while on the job.
‘These confrontations highlight the dangers our agents face daily and the escalating aggression toward law enforcement. The violence must end.’
