The following is the transcript of an interview with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on June 8, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who joins us from her home state of South Dakota. Good morning to you, Madam Secretary.
SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: Good morning. Thank you for inviting me, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we are seeing from the President’s proclamation that he can federalize- he says, 2000 California National Guard forces for 60 days under Title 10 authorities. Which units are being deployed? Are they military police, and exactly what are their orders?
SECRETARY NOEM: Yes, President Trump is putting the safety of the communities that are being impacted by these riots and by these protests that have turned violent, and he’s putting the safety of our law enforcement officers first. So these 2000 National Guard soldiers that are being engaged today are ones that are specifically trained for this type of crowd situation, where they’ll be with the public and be able to provide safety around buildings and to those that are engaged in peaceful protests, and also to our law enforcement officers so they can continue their daily work.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So our CBS team is reporting that the California National Guard officers are at that Edward Roybal Center in LA. This is a plaza with a federal building, courtrooms are there a processing center, a detention center, a veterans’ clinic. Are the soldiers going to remain around the federal building? Are you planning to have them go throughout the city of Los Angeles?
SECRETARY NOEM: I won’t speak specifically to all the locations where the national- National Guard soldiers will be deployed to, or where they will be conducting different operations as far as security concerns. They’re there at the direction of the President in order to keep peace and allow people to be able to protest, but also to keep law and order. That is incredibly important to the President. He recognizes he was elected to make sure that every single person in this country was treated exactly the same, and that we would enforce the laws. And that is what ICE is doing every day as they’re out on our streets and working to go after bad criminals and people that have perpetuated violence on these communities. The gang members we have picked up in LA because of their hard work are horrible people. Assault, drug trafficking, human trafficking. They are now off of those streets, and they are safer because these ICE operations are ongoing. Unfortunately, we’ve seen some violent protests happen, and that’s why these National Guard soldiers are being utilized to help with some security in some areas.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, California’s governor doesn’t want the federalized system here. He says he’s got it under control. There’s no shortage of law enforcement, Gavin Newsom said. He’s called in California Highway Patrol. He says the Trump administration is seeking a spectacle here. He’s saying to protesters, don’t get violent, don’t engage.
SECRETARY NOEM: Well, if he was doing his job, then people wouldn’t have gotten hurt the last couple of days. We wouldn’t have officers with a shattered wrist from bricks being thrown through their vehicles, their vehicles being burned, flags being burned in the street and Molotov cocktails being thrown. Governor Newsom has proven that he makes bad decisions. The President knows that he makes bad decisions, and that’s why the President chose the safety of this community over waiting for Governor Newsom to get some sanity. And that’s one of the reasons why these National Guard soldiers are being federalized so they can use their special skill set to keep peace. We’re not going to let a repeat of 2020 happen. And if you remember, it all happened in Tim Walz’s state in Minneapolis, [AUDIO CUTS OUT] neighboring state and a governor at the time. And Governor Tim Walz made very bad decisions and then tried to get the rest of us governors to send our National Guard in to bail him out when he let his city burn for days on end. We–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well he called the National Guard two days after the protests, but that was a point of contention, I know, in hindsight. President Trump–
SECRETARY NOEM: [AUDIO CUTS OUT] –in California won’t happen again.
MARGARET BRENNAN: President Trump said masks will not be allowed to be worn at protests. Who’s going to enforce that and how? And how can you justify it when law enforcement officials have their faces covered?
SECRETARY NOEM: You know what I would say is that the law is going to be enforced, and that I- what the laws are in this country is what we are doing, and our ICE officers and our law enforcement officers out there that are in these situations where people have questioned why they have their faces covered. It’s for the safety of those individuals or the work that they’re doing as far as protecting their identity so they can continue to do investigative work, so.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But are you tasking the National Guard soldiers with removing masks from protesters? I mean, are you trying to use them in that way?
SECRETARY NOEM: National Guard soldiers are there to provide security for operations and to make sure that we have peaceful protests. So that’s what their work is, and I won’t get more specific on that, just because we never do when it comes to law enforcement operations, we’re doing the same standard procedures we always do and have for years in this country with our National Guard and with our- you know, law enforcement folks that are on the ground working with these communities.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So the Defense Secretary also tweeted last night that he put active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton on high alert. We know, since you mentioned 2020 that President Trump, during those Black Lives Matter protests at the time, had wanted to use active-duty U.S. troops on the streets of a major city. The 82nd Airborne at the time was called up. They were not sent into the streets. What exactly do you set as Homeland Security Secretary as your benchmark for when you would counsel the President of the United States to send active duty troops in to police a domestic disturbance?
SECRETARY NOEM: Well, my hope is always that we work with local leaders that would do their jobs. And that is what has failed in LA, is that the mayor has refused to recognize the dangerous situation that she’s perpetuating, as well as the governor. When we ask for backup in a situation, LAPD has waited hours to respond, and they’ve waited until we have an officer in a dangerous situation, until they come in and help us bring peace. Oftentimes, in these cities, you have good leaders that help give back up to other law enforcement officers, but you have politicians who won’t give that kind of resource when it’s needed. Unfortunately, waiting several hours for LAPD to show up or telling them- them telling us that they’re not going to back us up until they have an officer in a dangerous situation is something that just isn’t workable when you have violent protests going on, so.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The U.S.–
SECRETARY NOEM: –work better with us, but that’s one of the reasons that you’ve seen the National Guard come in and help us with those security operations.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the US Attorney in LA told CBS that LAPD did help. LAPD, does not–
SECRETARY NOEM: That’s what stood out to me, Margaret, is hours later they- they waited until we had officers in dangerous situations, then they responded. Now, if that was my city and I was the mayor, I would be sending law enforcement in there to back up other law enforcement officers. That’s what America’s about is- is that we have rules and we have laws. If you don’t like the laws, go to Congress and change them. Someone should go to Congress and say, change the laws. If we don’t like what’s happening in this country, do that instead of throwing rocks and throwing Molotov cocktails and instead of attacking law enforcement officers. We’re just not going to do that anymore. This President cares deeply about family members that want to live in their communities and be safe.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Back to the question, though, of active-duty troops, different from the National Guard, what is your personal counsel here to the President? Because it’s you, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Defense, who are going to have a lot of responsibility here in implementing some of this call to do this?
SECRETARY NOEM: Well, let me be clear about something, ICE and Homeland Security are running these operations right now, and the advice and counsel of the Attorney General, the Department of Defense are extremely important to the President of the United States, and we never discuss our personal conversations and advice to the President of the United States. He makes the decisions he is the President that sits in that seat, and we are all very proud to work for him. So I’m grateful for the leadership- leadership of Pete Hegseth and- and Pam Bondi and I get the chance to work with them, and as ICE [AUDIO CUTS OUT] and does their job today, we’re thankful to have the partnership and the leadership of President Trump.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, some Republican senators, like Senator Lankford has- have said active-duty Marines are not going to be put into local law enforcement. So there are Republican lawmakers questioning this. To the question about where we are seeing the National Guard troops centered around this Roybal center, CBS is reporting undocumented immigrants attending their ICE check-ins were being detained and held overnight in the basement of that building. And there were lawyers for some of those detainees claiming it was illegal because the migrants were held in makeshift facilities with limited access to food and water. That was one of the sources of the protest. Can you vouch for these facilities? And do you understand what some of these protesters are concerned about?
SECRETARY NOEM: Well these protests started long before we ended up in the situations that we saw when we were trying to secure these individuals, and the law enforcement officers involved. What I would say is- is getting into individuals in and out of those facilities was extremely challenging when the violence broke out and when things were being thrown at vehicles, and people were rocking vehicles and shaking them, trying to break into them. In fact, we had to send a swift response team in to get a female officer out of her vehicle safely- when those situations. So we are following all the laws and procedures as we always do. But when you have violence like that, the safety of everybody involved is incredibly important, and we’ll make sure that we get people through them without injury as best to our ability.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Secretary Noem, we’re going to have to leave that there. Thank you for your time this morning, and we apologize to our viewers about any audio drops you may have heard there. I heard a few myself. ‘Face the Nation’ will be back in one minute. Stay with us.