A new review of deportee profiles posted on the Department of Homeland Security's website undercuts claims Secretary Kristi Noem has made about the operations, according to a new report by The Daily Beast.
Noem has claimed that DHS is deporting the "worst criminals," but a review of the cases the agency has posted on its website found many to have only committed traffic violations. Some of the deportees had committed traffic violations that mirrored some of Noem's past behavior, according to the report.
Overall, the outlet found at least 30 people have been removed from the U.S. for traffic violations.
"Traffic infractions were not the only minor offenses that landed detainees on the 'worst of the worst' list," the report reads in part. "A Jamaican man was arrested in Tampa, Florida, for marijuana possession, and a Cuban national was picked up in Houston, Texas, for the same conviction, which is not a criminal offense in many states."
"The only listed conviction for dozens of others seen by the Beast was 'Illegal Re-Entry,' meaning they had previously been removed from the United States—not what most people think of when they hear 'worst of the worst,'" it added.
Noem has accrued several traffic violations herself, none of which resulted in her life being upended in the same manner that she is inflicting upon the deportees, the report noted.
During her campaign for a seat in Congress in 2010, Noem admitted to collecting more than 20 traffic tickets since the late 1980s. Violations included failure to stop at a traffic light and driving with invalid plates, according to the report.