Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has claimed an illegal immigrant detained by ICE agents started to eat his own arms during a deportation flight.
Noem shared the horrifying details to highlight the type of people federal agents are targeting as her department cracks down on illegal immigrants in the US.
Speaking alongside President Donald Trump on Tuesday, she said: ‘The other day, I was talking to some Marshalls that have been partnering with ice.
‘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 added: ‘These are the kind of deranged individuals that are on our streets in America that we’re trying to target and get out of our country.’
She also slammed former President Joe Biden when speaking of the incident, saying the Democrat had ‘let the worst of the worst come in here’.
A Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed Noem was referring to an incident mentioned in a June 27 post on her X account.
Noem shared the horrifying details to highlight the type of people federal agents are targeting as her department cracks down on illegal immigrants in the US
Deported migrants arrive from US in a military plane at Ramon Villeda Morales airport in Cortes, Honduras on January 31, 2025
That post said: ‘Had some plane issues on the ride back from Guatemala. Fortunately, an ICE deportation flight carrying criminal illegal aliens had just touched down on the same tarmac in Guatemala.
‘Hitched a ride back to the USA on ICE Air – great flight’, the Daily Mail has approached ICE and the department for further details on the incident.
The revelation came as she appeared alongside President Trump on a visit to a new immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades on Tuesday morning.
The two toured the new facility — nicknamed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ — and praised its remote, high-security design.
President Trump said it would soon house what he described as ‘the most vicious people on the planet.’
He added: ‘It is not a place I want to go hiking any time soon. Very soon this facility will house some of the most menacing migrants, the most vicious people on the planet.
‘We’re surrounded by miles of swamp land and the only way out is deportation.’
Trump said he’d like to see similar facilities in ‘many states,’ adding Florida would getting a second one ‘and probably a couple more.’
Noem appeared alongside President Trump on a visit to a new immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades, seen here
The center was built in eight days over 10 miles of Everglades. It features over 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet of barbed wire and 400 security personnel
‘At some point they might morph into a system where you’re going to keep it for a long time,’ he added.
Democrats have slammed it as a ‘prison camp,’ environmentalists have questioned its impact and Native Americans protested it being built on sacred ground.
Despite controversy surrounding the construction of such a facility, he said: ‘I couldn’t care less.’
The White House has delighted in the area’s remoteness – about 50 miles west of Miami – and the fact that it is teeming with pythons and alligators.
It hopes to convey a message to detainees and the rest of the world that repercussions will be severe if the immigration laws of the US are not followed.
Before arriving, Trump even joked of migrants being held there, ‘We’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison.’
The president said any migrant being processed into the facility who wanted to return to their home country would be allowed to do so.
He said he would be making a decision on exempting farm workers and construction workers in the next few weeks.
The center was built in eight days over 10 miles of Everglades. It features over 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet of barbed wire and 400 security personnel.
