Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's sensational story about a self-cannibalistic immigrant on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flight never happened, according to a new report.
Noem spun the lurid yarn over the summer while standing beside President Donald Trump at a news conference and later told Fox News' Jesse Watters that federal agents had "detained a cannibal and put him on a plane to take him home."
“The other day I was talking to some marshals that had been partnering with (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), they said that they had detained a cannibal and put him on a plane to take him home, and while they had him in his seat, he started to eat himself, and they had to get him off and get him medical attention,” Noem said, sitting beside Trump during a press conference.
“These are the kinds of deranged individuals that are on our streets in America that we're trying to target and get out of our country because they are so deranged, they don't belong here. They shouldn't be walking the streets with our children, and they shouldn't be living in the communities with our families.”
Noem claimed that a U.S. Marshal witnessed the disturbing scene, describing how the man "was literally eating his own arms."
Three federal law enforcement officials, including those from her own department, told The Intercept no such thing happened.
"That is completely made up," a senior federal law enforcement official told The Intercept. "That never happened."
“They went to ERO,” one source told the outlet, referring to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, which handles the standard immigration enforcement process of identifying, arresting, and deporting immigrants. “There was no information about it. It never took place. It’s a lie.”
When asked whether the fabrication originated from Noem or U.S. Marshals, one official bluntly replied, "Noem."
A DHS spokesperson attempted damage control, claiming Noem simply relayed an air marshal's account.
“What ‘fabrication’ of the story of the cannibal?” the spokesperson said. “She was told that story on a deportation flight by one of the air marshals.”
Noem has faced mounting calls to resign or face impeachment. An impeachment resolution now has 187 co-sponsors following her involvement in controversial ICE operations that resulted in civilian deaths.