DHS press secretary Paloma Chacon said in a weekly briefing that the Department of Homeland Security surged Coast Guard, Border Patrol and FEMA assets to assist Texas after recent flooding, reported a large increase in assaults against ICE personnel, and announced a new Transportation Security Administration rule allowing travelers to keep their shoes on at domestic checkpoints.

Chacon said the department’s work matters because it accelerates recovery for affected communities and aims to protect law enforcement officers and children the department says were rescued in recent operations.

In her prepared remarks, Chacon said, “Immediate disaster response was swift and efficient,” and that DHS assets “surged into heroic action alongside Texas first responders.” She identified the U.S. Coast Guard, Border Patrol and FEMA as among the responders deployed to Texas.

Chacon also said law enforcement has faced rising violence and doxxing. She said there has been “an 830% increase in assaults against [ICE]” and described the agency’s focus as removing “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from American communities,” naming “convicted drug traffickers, child molesters, gang members, and murderers” in that account. Those figures and characterizations were presented by Chacon during the briefing and are attributed to her.

Describing operations in California, Chacon said agents found “361 criminal illegal aliens across 2 marijuana facilities” and that Customs and Border Protection and ICE “rescued 14 children at these drug sites.” She added that “10 were unaccompanied and likely trafficked.” Those numbers and the trafficking characterization were stated by Chacon in the briefing.

Chacon warned about threats to officers and their families, saying agents and their relatives have faced doxing and that “anyone who doxes or assaults an ICE officer will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

On airport security, Chacon announced what she described as the end of “an archaic 20 year old outdated rule,” saying TSA has changed its domestic checkpoint procedures so that “passengers flying through domestic airports can keep their shoes on while going through TSA checkpoints.” She said the change reduces wait times while maintaining security standards and that TSA employees and travelers had given “overwhelmingly positive feedback.”

Chacon concluded the briefing by saying Secretary Noem met with DHS staff, that the department is “just getting started,” and asked listeners to “stay tuned for next week’s update.”

Discussion only: The remarks presented were an informational briefing by the DHS press office; no formal votes or legally cited authorities were made during the briefing. Direction/assignment: Chacon described policy implementation at TSA and enforcement intentions (prosecution for doxing or assault), both presented as department actions. Formal action: The briefing announced a TSA procedural change allowing shoes at domestic checkpoints; the briefing did not include statutory citations, a public rulemaking record, or an implementation timeline in the remarks.