California Governor Gavin Newsom took aim at Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after her much-publicized visit to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Oregon, turned out to be far less dramatic than her team portrayed.
Noem, nicknamed “ICE Barbie” by critics for her staged appearances, visited Portland on Tuesday alongside right-wing influencer Benny Johnson, who shared footage of the event claiming she was confronting an “army of antifa.” However, Johnson’s video showed only a few peaceful protesters—one dressed in a chicken costume—gathered outside the ICE building.
Newsom’s office mocked the trip on social media, sharing an image of the small group with the sarcastic caption, “PORTLAND’S WARZONE.” His team followed up with another post showing Noem looking down from the rooftop, writing in all caps, “KOSPLAY KRISTI IS IN PORTLAND! HIDE YO DOGS!”
The jab referenced a controversial story from Noem’s 2024 memoir, No Going Back, in which she admitted to shooting her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, for what she described as aggressive behavior. The revelation sparked widespread backlash and was widely seen as damaging to her political future, including speculation that she was once considered a potential Trump running mate, as per The Daily Beast.
During her Portland visit, Noem appeared unfazed by the criticism. In Johnson’s video, he asked what she thought of the protesters, particularly the man in the chicken outfit. Noem responded, “Man in the chicken outfit? I just see him now. Goodness sakes. You can do better,” before calling the group “uneducated and ill-informed.”
Protests outside Portland’s ICE facility have been ongoing for weeks, with demonstrators wearing costumes, including chicken and frog suits, as part of their continued opposition to federal immigration policies. The Trump administration has previously labeled such demonstrators as “domestic terrorists,” using the protests to justify federal crackdowns in Democratic-led cities.
At one point in the video, a protester shouted through a megaphone, “Come on down, I’ve got a Subway sandwich for you!”—a likely reference to a past incident in Washington, D.C., when a protester threw a sandwich at a federal officer. The case drew attention after former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, now serving as U.S. Attorney for D.C., declined to file assault charges.
Another protester yelled, “No dogs there! Woof woof woof woof!” mocking Noem’s infamous confession. Noem’s visit coincided with a significant legal blow to the Trump administration. A federal judge in Oregon, Karin Immergut, blocked efforts to deploy National Guard troops into Portland, ruling that the president’s justification was “untethered to facts.”
“This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law,” Judge Immergut wrote, emphasizing that the administration had overstepped its legal authority. For now, Noem’s trip—intended as a show of strength—has instead fueled fresh ridicule, with her critics, led by Newsom, using it to question her credibility and judgment.