There are politicians who dress up for Halloween – and those who simply stay that way. Kristi Noem has decided to be both: minister, horror figure, and state myth all in one. While children in Chicago carve their pumpkins, she is preparing her own parade of fear: ICE patrols under the streetlights, checkpoints between candies, drones instead of ghosts. And all of it, of course, in the name of safety.
“ICE will be out on the streets in full force on Halloween”
When Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker politely asked her to refrain from raids on Halloween, Noem responded, in essence: “Over my dead body.” On Fox News it sounded even colder, even more calculated - a mixture of duty, pathos, and the sadistic joy of showing power simply because she can. “We will be out on the streets to make sure the children are safe,” she said, as if it were about saving souls rather than intimidation. In truth, it is about symbolism: whoever sends ICE marching on the night of masks no longer needs monsters.
Halloween was once the night of innocence, imagination, and harmless fright. Now it becomes the stage of a government that can turn cotton candy into a warrant. Instead of witches, agents hunt migrants, instead of sweets there are sirens, and the phrase “Trick or Treat” suddenly sounds like a legal threat. Noem sells fear as care - that is the new American horror. In the suburbs of Chicago, children are to learn that the greatest terror no longer hides behind the mask but behind the uniform. Perhaps the next costume trend won’t be Barbie or Batman at all, but ICE Agent Ken - complete with warrant and plastic badge.
The truly bitter part of it is not the ridiculousness of the scene but its coldness. Because in a country where millions of children suffer from hunger and poverty, government resources are being used to stage a Halloween nightmare - against the very families who already have nothing to laugh about. Kristi Noem calls it protection. The rest of the world calls it sadism with an administrative seal. And while elsewhere parents prepare flashlights and chocolate, the Department of Homeland Security equips its chief as a political poltergeist - a woman who prefers to rule in nightmares rather than in realities. Perhaps she really should be called “ICE Barbie.” Because what once was a doll is now state propaganda: plastic smile, pale morality, and a ready-made nightmare in high heels.
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Diese Frau hat kein Herz, selbst die Eiskönigin war emphatischer.
Den Kindern ein Fest zu nehmen, dass etwas Freude bringt…. dazu muss man wohl eine vereiste Plastikpuppe sein.