A "deranged" cannibal immigrant allegedly began eating his own arms during a deportation flight, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed on Tuesday. The disturbing incident was recounted during her visit with President Donald Trump to the newly constructed "Alligator Alcatraz" deportation facility deep in the Florida Everglades.
"The other day I was talking to some [US] Marshals that had been partnering with ICE," Noem said. "They were 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 initially shared this last week during an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters. Describing a conversation with a US Marshal, Noem said she was told, "off-handedly," that there was a cannibal on a "planeload of illegals." When she asked what was meant by "cannibal," the marshal allegedly replied, "He started to eat his own arms."
"You know, what bothered me the most is that this US Marshal just said it like it was normal," Noem responded. "He said he was literally eating his own arms. That is what he did. He called himself a cannibal and ate other people and ate himself that day."
Kristi Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, cited the story as proof that immigration authorities were targeting "the worst of the worst" and not law-abiding undocumented migrants, as critics suggest.
"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," she added.
The Department of Homeland Security has not yet confirmed or provided details to corroborate Noem's claim.
The remarks came during a tour of the controversial new detention centre, nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz" due to its isolated, swampy surroundings, home to both alligators and pythons. Built in only eight days, the 62 square km facility is located about 65 km from Miami and is intended to help with the Trump administration's mass deportation effort.
The first detainees arrived at the site on Wednesday.
Last year, Elon Musk and other right-wing voices claimed that some Haitian immigrants were part of "cannibal gangs." The billionaire shared warnings on social media about these groups possibly entering the US illegally.
