Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem forcefully defended Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minnesota during a tense exchange with CBS’ Margaret Brennan.
Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday, the conversation kicked off after Brennan asked Noem to detail the percentage of immigrants that had been taken into custody by ICE who “actually committed a criminal versus just [a] civil infraction.”
“Every single individual has committed a crime, but 70% of them have committed or have charges against them on violent crimes, and crimes that they are charged with or have been convicted of that have come from other countries that are here illegally, first of all, and then they have committed a criminal act while they’ve been here or in their home countries as well,” Noem responded.
Brennan quickly interjected to correct Noem, telling her, “It’s not 70%,” to which Noem fired back, “Yes, it is. It absolutely is.”
“You guys keep changing your percentage. You pick and choose what numbers you think work, but that is the facts … 70% of the people that we have detained have charges against them or have been convicted of charges, and they need to be brought to justice,” Noem claimed.
She added: “And we’re going to keep doing that no matter how much you guys keep lying and don’t tell the public the truth.”
Noem went on to argue that law enforcement officers are “out there every day doing the work to protect the American people,” adding: “They will keep doing that because they believe in enforcing the law, which is exactly what President Trump has charged them with.”
Brennan didn’t let Noem off the hook.
“Well, our reporting is 47% based on your agency’s own numbers ― 47% have criminal convictions against them. But let’s talk about the other numbers,” the host declared, prompting Noem to argue that she was “wrong again.”
“We’ll get you the correct numbers so you can use them in the future,” she retorted before Brennan countered, “Well, that’s from your agency.”
Earlier in the interview, Brennan pressed Noem over how ICE could possibly know that they’ve “gotten everyone off the streets” in Minnesota, citing data from the Pew Research Center.
“According to Pew, Minnesota’s population of immigrants here illegally stands at 2.2%. So how do you judge when you’ve gotten everyone off the streets that you say is requiring your federal agents [to] be there? How do you say we’ve had [the] mission accomplished?” she questioned.
“Well, we won’t stop until we are sure that all the dangerous people are picked up, brought to justice, and then deported back to their home countries,” Noem replied before pivoting to place the blame on the Biden administration.
Claiming that “we wouldn’t be in this situation if Joe Biden hadn’t allowed our open border policies to be in place and allowed up to 20 million people unvetted into this country,” Noem then admitted “we have no idea how many dangerous people are here.”
She alleged she “can’t tell the people of Minnesota exactly how many dangerous criminals they have” because there were “millions of people” who are “terrorists, suspected terrorist [and] criminals” who came to America due to the “mass migration that the Biden administration facilitated,” and argued Minnesota citizens are “extremely grateful every time we get a pedophile off the street.”
“Sure, but you just said millions,” Brennan shot back.
Watch Noem’s appearance on “Face the Nation” below.