A reporter who told Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that members of the Latino community said they are afraid of being targeted based on their skin color was cut off and admonished by Noem.
During a press conference on Friday, the reporter raised concerns on behalf of their primarily Latino audience. "Every day they say they're fearful because a lot of people have been targeted based on their skin color," they began.
"That is not true," Noem interrupted sharply. "That has been another false narrative that has been put out there in the media that I absolutely want to throw back at you and say that is absolutely false," she said. "And don't you dare ever say that again."
@nbcnews Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem responds to a reporter who said her "predominantly Latino" audience is fearful of ICE "because a lot of people have been targeted based on their skin color."
♬ original sound - nbcnews
"We have judges out there, and other individuals saying people have been targeted that way and it's not true," Noem continued. She went on to defend ICE enforcement efforts, insisting all operations are based on investigative work, insisting that people saying otherwise doesn't make it true. "It should not be repeated," she added.
However, recent remarks by Border Czar Tom Homan paint a different picture of ICE's investigative work.
"People need to understand, ICE officers and Border Patrol, they don't need probable cause to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them," Homan said on Fox News last week. "They just need to tally the circumstances. They just go through the observations, get articulable facts, based on their location, their occupation, their physical appearance, their actions."
Homan: "People need to understand ICE officers and Border Patrol don't need probable cause to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them ... based on their physical appearance."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 11, 2025 at 7:00 AM
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Homan's remarks were made the same day a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting federal agents in Southern California from stopping individuals based on race or ethnicity, language or accent, their presence in a particular location, or their profession. The judge determined ongoing immigration raids likely included racial profiling in violation of the 4th Amendment of the Constitution, which protects people against unreasonable searches and seizures and requires probable cause to issue arrest warrants.
A similar order filed in April has eliminated warrantless stops and arrests in nearby Kern County according to ACLU SoCal, who filed the suit.
Homan's assertion that federal agents can detain individuals without probably cause and act based on their location, occupation, or physical appearance contradicts widely accepted interpretations of the Constitution.
Meanwhile, Noem's vehement denial of racial profiling in ICE operations is at odds with the findings of the federal court and with Homan's description of ICE and Border Patrol procedure.
Online, TikTok users bristled to Noem's brusque dismissal of the reporter, with many interpreting it as a threat.
"Did she just threaten a reporter?" asked one user, with another calling it, "A clear threat by a political figure that will likely go under the rug."
"What a hostile thing to say," one comment read.
Several other comments brought up Tom Homan's remarks. "Wait, Tom Homan just said the literal opposite," a user wrote, asking, "Can they keep up with their own lies?"
The tense exchange comes amid heightened tensions between the Trump administration and news media. Trump has filed multiple lawsuits against media organizations and yesterday, Republicans rescinded federal funding for NPR and PBS.
Originally published on Latin Times
