WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was taken to the hospital on Tuesday after experiencing an allergic reaction, her spokeswoman said.

“She is alert and recovering,” said the statement from department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, who said the hospital treatment was out of an “abundance of caution.” Noem, 53, heads a sprawling department with roughly 260,000 employees handling immigration enforcement, airport security, disaster response and other matters.

She is often the public face of his mass deportation effort, frequently goes out on immigration enforcement operations and has appeared in commercials encouraging immigrants in the country illegally to voluntarily leave the U.S.

She held a press conference last week in California where U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, was forcibly removed as he tried to speak to Noem about immigration raids. Padilla recalled the incident during an emotional speech from the Senate floor Tuesday.

— The Associated Press