Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited San Diego on Thursday to tout drug seizures during the Trump administration, including what she said was a 56% decrease in fentanyl smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border. Noem held a news conference at the Otay Mesa commercial port of entry as sirens blasted and dozens of protesters chanted outside, condemning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Noem was joined by Diane J. Sabatino, the acting executive assistant commissioner of the Office of Field Operations at Customs and Border Protection, who said, “We’re winning the fight against fentanyl.” Noem said that she toured a vault holding 188,218 pounds of illicit drugs seized by CBP in the San Diego area. These included 100,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 59,000 pounds of cocaine, and 7,400 pounds of fentanyl. “That’s 1.7 billion lives that are saved because of the work that they do,” she said. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks, also at the news conference, credited the Trump administration’s policies to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, which he said have allowed federal officers to focus on tasks other than processing migrants arriving at the border. In the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector, migrant encounters plummeted by 92% in fiscal 2025 compared to 2024. “They can look for more narcotics,” Banks said. “They can operate the equipment and technology that this administration has given them, and that’s why you’re seeing this massive increase.” Noem also thanked the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office for its participation “in getting these drugs interdicted before they get onto our streets and kill Americans and not just Californians.” Assistant Sheriff Kenneth Jones was also in attendance at the news conference. Asked about the department’s work with DHS, the Sheriff’s Office said it partners with “multiple components” of DHS “to keep our communities safe from threats such as dangerous illicit drugs, human trafficking, narco-terrorism, cybercrimes, firearms trafficking and cross border violence.” Noem’s visit prompted protests throughout San Diego. Many gathered outside where the news conference took place to voice their concerns about immigration policies under the Trump administration. Escondido resident Vanessa Reyes, who is an immigrant, said that she wanted to stand up for those who can’t speak for themselves. There was a time when “someone spoke for me, somebody defended my rights, and it is now my duty to support them,” said Reyes, who heard about the protest through social media. Noem said she welcomed protesters expressing their First Amendment rights. “As long as they do so peacefully … I think it’s a wonderful thing,” she said. Democratic leaders and some organizations have called for Noem’s impeachment following the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents during a large-scale immigration operation in Minneapolis last month. On Thursday, the U.S. Senate failed to pass a bill to fund DHS, as Democrats are pushing for stricter restrictions on ICE operations. Noem said she was concerned about the funding. “It’s the wrong message to send,” she said. “They keep talking about the fact that they want ICE’s operations to be impacted, but only 11% of that bill is ICE.” Labor leaders and immigrant rights activists gathered outside the San Diego County Administration Center on Thursday to urge San Diego’s congressional representatives to stop funding DHS. They also called on congress members to demand more guardrails in immigration enforcement operations, including limiting the use of force, ensuring that criminal investigations into ICE are independent, and ending racial profiling. “For more than a century, border communities have bore the brunt of violence and impunity by border agents. Families in San Diego have experienced firsthand the consequences of unchecked powers by these agents,” said Lilian Serrano, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition. “Now under the Trump administration … the violence and impunity has spread everywhere in our country.” Serrano and other speakers shared stories of parents and neighbors who have been taken by ICE agents from their communities in San Diego, and those who are too fearful of immigration enforcement to leave their homes. “We are creating generational trauma, not only for these workers who are being abducted, but for their kids, who are wondering every day, ‘when I come home, is my parent going to be there?’” said Brigette Browning, president of San Diego Imperial Counties Labor Council. Crystal Irving, president of Service Employees International Union Local 221, questioned the federal government’s spending on DHS while it cuts funding to social and health services. “Many of our friends and family don’t even know what they’re going to have for dinner tonight,” Irving said. “Yet there is more funding for DHS.” Members of the San Diego Democratic congressional delegation have previously asked for stricter use-of-force standards for federal immigration enforcement agents. Noem was asked whether any large-scale immigration operation was expected in San Diego. “I don’t want to put our law enforcement officers at risk by exposing some of the planned operations that they may or may not have,” she responded. “But what we are focused on (…) as far as the Department of Homeland Security and ICE and CBP, is targeted operations, going after specific individuals that are a threat to public safety.” The number of immigration enforcement operations in San Diego increased sharply last year. From January to mid-October, ICE’s San Diego field office made 4,934 arrests, compared with the 764 arrests made in all of 2024, according to data obtained via public information request by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the Union-Tribune. The San Diego field office covers San Diego and Imperial counties. Noem said that ICE has lodged detainers on more than 33,000 criminal undocumented immigrants in California prisons and jails, and she called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to honor them. While the California Values Act, or SB 54, restricts cooperation with federal immigration officials, it still allows local agencies to notify the federal government of release dates and to transfer individuals to ICE when individuals are convicted of certain crimes. The governor’s press office repeatedly posted on X this week that “California cooperates with ICE when it comes to deporting criminals.” Enacted in 2018 during the first Trump administration, SB 54 aimed to foster trust with immigrant communities so that they would feel comfortable reporting crimes to the authorities. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office reiterated after Noem’s news conference that deputies do not enforce federal immigration law and none of its work violates the California Values Act. “It is imperative that we do not limit law enforcement cooperation for political gains,” Sheriff Kelly Martinez said in a statement. “Our work at the border is focused on cross national organized criminals who terrorize our communities, period.” Martinez also said she supports the “communities I serve to include migrants and their families,” and said she believes “the best way to keep communities safe is to share information across agencies.” ...read more read less