Homeland Security Secretary Krisi Noem said on Sunday that the priority of the Trump administration's immigration law enforcement efforts is to arrest and remove illegal immigrants with criminal records from the United States.

Noem was asked if women and children could be held at Guantanamo Bay, referencing the Trump administration announcement that it plans to house up to 30,000 illegal immigrants there.

"You know, if you look at what we are doing today of targeting the worst of the worst, we've been very clear on that. The priority of this president is to go after criminal aliens that are making our streets more dangerous," she said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"After that, we have final removal orders on many individuals in this country. They are the next priority, and we'll continue to work through," she added.

Noem was also asked if illegal immigrants could be held at Guantanamo Bay indefinitely.

"That is not the plan. The plan is to have a process that we follow that's laid out in law and make sure that we're dealing with these individuals appropriately according to what the state and the national lawsuit -- or law directs," she said. "So we will work with Congress to make sure that we're addressing our legal immigration laws and using Guantanamo Bay appropriately. But it is an asset that we have that we fully intend to utilize."

Noem said she was in New York City earlier this week and other cities for ICE operations and the efforts were well-received.

"The people walking by us on the streets were thanking our officers. They were thanking these investigators and those that were taking these dangerous criminals out for being there, for making sure that they could walk their kids to school with a new confidence that they could get there safely and that they could do business and have their community back," she said.