PHOENIX — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem isn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty on President Trump’s deportation raids.
Noem led about 100 federal agents on an early morning raid in Arizona’s capital Tuesday where they nabbed three illegal migrants wanted on charges including weapons and drug offenses to running a money laundering operation.
The Post was there as she dodged kicks from a suspect wearing slip-on shoes, and gamely told him, “you’re not scaring me with your Croc.”
The multi-agency task force — led by Phoenix Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and joined by a coterie of of federal law enforcement and immigration agencies — nabbed three illegal immigrant felons with extensive criminal histories.
Noem, clad in police tactical gear including a flak jacket, sported her two-tone gold Rolex as she greeted agents from ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration in a dingy underground parking garage. She shook hands with officers as she thanked them for their work and pledged to get them the resources they needed to do their jobs better.
“The effort of cooperation we have between agencies is getting turned onto steroids. We have this being multiplied across the country exponentially, now anyone who’s in this country illegally that’s committing crimes and has broken our laws will face consequences,” Noem told The Post.
“We’ll be sweeping them up faster than we ever have before.”
Agents were briefed on the day’s targets before a dozen cars — with Noem leading the convoy behind the wheel of a BearCat armored SWAT vehicle — rolled out in pursuit of the suspects.
The first suspect arrested was Bonifacio Renteria-Cruz, illegal migrant felon from Mexico with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, according to DHS. His lengthy rap sheet includes prior convictions for aggravated assault, weapons charges, and an active arrest warrant in Mexico for homicide.
Renteria-Cruz had been ordered removed by an immigration official in 2008.
Next on the task force’s chopping block was illegal alien Jose Escobar-Robles, identified as helping run Monroy Enterprises, a money service business believed to be illegally funneling money to Mexico to benefit cartels engaged in drug smuggling and human trafficking.
After he was slapped in cuffs and loaded into the back of a police car, Noem asked him questions about whether he has family as he raised his Croc shoe in an attempt to block out the camera, impatiently imploring the agents “let’s go, let’s go.”
Noem quipped back, “You’re gonna go — you’re gonna go home, and you’re gonna get prosecuted,” adding, “you’re not scaring me with your Croc” as he repeatedly kicked his foot in her direction.
The final suspect picked up in the raids, Luis Garcia-Sanchez, is allegedly connected to the notorious 18th Street Gang. He was wanted for felony narcotics charges dating back to 1987 and twice ordered removed from the country, DHS said.
He told Noem from the back of a squad car, sounding somewhat remorseful, that he has three kids, and that he didn’t want them to wind up living the gangbanger lifestyle like their father.
“Go deal with the consequences of breaking the law here. Give them an example of being a better person,” Noem told a handcuffed Garcia-Sanchez.
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