Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem claims the U.S. government tried to deport a cannibal from America, but the immigrant was so “deranged” he began eating himself on the plane.
The wild story was shared on Tuesday as Donald Trump toured a migrant detention centre dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”: a controversial facility based in Florida’s swampy Everglades region, that will house up to 5000 people.
Speaking alongside the president, Noem talked up the administration’s mass deportation program, which she insisted was designed to get rid of “the worst of the worst”.
“The other day, I was talking to some marshals 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 said, donning a white Make America Great Again cap.
“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 because they are so deranged they don’t belong here.”
The so-called Alligator Alcatraz detention facility is being built on an old airfield site, in Ochopee, west of Miami.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration used its emergency powers to expedite the $450 million-per-year tent facility, which was constructed in just seven days and consists of thousands of beds behind cages.
Trump has also approved the governor’s plans to use the National Guard as de facto immigration judges to process illegal immigrants swiftly and get them deported as soon as possible.
But there has already been significant pushback from immigration advocates and environmentalists, many of whom were protesting in Ochopee as Trump toured on Tuesday, holding signs with phrases such as “Say no to concentration camps” or “I like my ICE crushed.”
Critics say it is inhumane to put people in a swampy region of Florida known for its large population of snakes and alligators.
But Trump, who had earlier joked that immigrants trying to escape should be taught how to outrun alligators, rejected the concerns.
Part of the aim, Trump said, would be for undocumented immigrants to be so deterred from entering Alligator Alcatraz that they self-deport.
“We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland and the only way out is deportation,” he said.
Asked if he said he would like to see more “Alligator Alcatraz” facilities spring up around the country, Trump told reporters: “I think we’d like to see them in many states, really, many states.
“I know Ron’s doing a second one... and probably a couple of more, and you know, at some point they might morph into a system where you’re going to keep it for a long time.”
The facility is part of a push by Republican states to help Trump fulfill his campaign promise to embark on the biggest deportation program in US history.
But the deportation program has come under fire in recent months, most notably in Los Angeles, where ICE raids at various locations led to ugly protests and clashes with law enforcement agencies.
The architect of Trump’s deportation strategy, Stephen Miller, also toured the facility in Florida on Tuesday.
Sitting between him and Trump, Noem praised Miller as a “rockstar” and pushed back against criticisms of ICE’s tactics.
“President Trump is upholding freedom by what he is doing: the freedom to live safely in this country and to do things legally,” she said.
