Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem took to the Senate floor Tuesday and accused DailyMail.com of lying about her support for a reality TV competition that would pit immigrants against each other to fast-track their US citizenship.
DailyMail.com stands by its reporting and can now reveal that it has seen DHS HQ internal communications showing not only was Noem aware of the proposal by a Duck Dynasty producer, but she also endorsed it.
Noem’s de-facto chief of staff, Corey Lewandowski, and her top spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin were also involved and supportive of the project, according to the internal communications.
The proposal remained under wraps until DailyMail.com obtained a copy of the pitch and the communications showing DHS support.
After being contacted last Thursday for comment, DHS officials immediately went into damage control, apparently concerned about the optics of turning the plight of immigrants into a game show.
McLaughlin insisted that Noem had yet to be briefed on the initiative, even as she acknowledged that agency staff had a call with the producer a week earlier.
‘I think it’s a good idea,’ she initially told DailyMail.com.
After DailyMail.com publicized its exclusive article Thursday, the story got picked up by other media. McLaughlin continued to downplay DHS involvement and to distance Noem from the proposal.
‘It’s in the very beginning stages of that vetting process,’ she told the Wall Street Journal.
The proposed reality show went viral and became a source of mockery on social media.
Politicians and pundits sounded off on the controversial pitch and that Noem was supporting it. It was also joked about by Bill Maher on his show Friday and on SNL on Saturday.
But DHS officials have continued to try to distance themselves from the proposal, decrying DailyMail.com on the DHS official website under the headline ‘FAKE NEWS FRIDAY: DHS Torches Latest Media Hoax.’
Noem was asked about it during a hearing Tuesday.
‘I’m sure you’ve seen the recent reports,’ Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, told the Cabinet secretary. ‘Your agency is going to sponsor a reality TV show in which immigrants would compete for US citizenship.
‘Is DHS seriously vetting a reality show for immigrants to obtain U.S. citizenship?’ he asked.
Noem, addressing the subject publicly for the first time, went into denial mode.
‘Sir, we have no knowledge of a reality show,’ the secretary declared. ‘There may have been something submitted to the department, but I did not know anything about this reality show until the reporter reached out. We told him we have no knowledge of it, we don’t know what he’s talking about, and they still printed wrong information.
‘So that article, they had to change it later because they lied so bad and they had us on the record saying I had no knowledge of a reality show, the department didn’t,’ she continued.
‘There may have been something submitted somewhere along the line because there are proposals pitched to the department.’
At the same hearing, Noem drew additional ridicule after flubbing the definition of habeas corpus – the bedrock legal principle that gives defendants the right of due process to challenge their detention by the government. Noem bizarrely called it a ‘constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country.’
Noem, who’s earned the moniker ‘ICE Barbie’ for treating her Cabinet position like a TV producer, had been working for weeks to get a reality project greenlit from Netflix or another streaming or cable service, DailyMail.com has learned.
But while past outreach has fallen flat, they were hoping this one has a real chance.
The 35-page TV pitch came from Rob Worsoff, a writer and producer known for Duck Dynasty, the A&E reality show about a Louisiana family and its hunting empire, and Bravo’s Millionaire Matchmaker.
He’d been working since the second Obama administration to get the necessary DHS support for his project but finally appeared to be on the brink of getting the official green light.
The proposed series is called The American, named after the train that contestants would ride around the country, competing in regionally specific ‘cultural’ contests such as balancing on logs in Wisconsin.
It would lead to a grand finale with the winner getting sworn in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
‘Along the way, we will be reminded what it means to be American – through the eyes of the people who want it most,’ reads Worsoff’s pitch.
In his pitch, Worsoff, 49, expresses confidence that The American would be a commercial hit and ‘lends itself to enormous corporate sponsorship opportunities’.
At the same time, there have been concerns among some in DHS about the possible optics of turning the plight of immigrants into a reality game show, sources told DailyMail.com.
Noem was already suffering from the perception she cares more about image than fulfilling her responsibility to protect the homeland and crack down on illegal immigration.
‘When will Secretary Noem stop prioritizing staged photo ops and media stunts?’ one source asked.
‘The focus on self-promotion is undermining our ability to deliver on President Trump’s deportation mandate. We need leadership committed to logistics and results, not financial gain or reality show theatrics.’
As described in Worsoff’s pitch, contestants from various countries and backgrounds would be pre-vetted and arrive at Ellis Island in New York City aboard ‘The Citizen Ship’, a boat symbolizing a new beginning.
They’d be greeted by the host – ‘a famous, naturalized American who was also born in another country’.
Worsoff’s pitch names Colombian-born Sofia Vergara, Canadian Ryan Reynolds and Mila Kunis who hails from Ukraine as possible hosts who’d greet each contestant with a welcome gift – a personalized baseball glove.
Contestants would then travel state to state meeting ‘interesting Americans’ and learning about the history, culture and quirks of each region. Viewers in turn will learn about each wannabe American and why they want to live here.
‘We’ll join in the laughter, tears, frustration, and joy – hearing their backstories – as we are reminded how amazing it is to be American, through the eyes of 12 wonderful people who want nothing more than to have what we have,’ the pitch reads.
The immigrants would be divided into teams who’d face off in one-hour episodes.
Scenes envisaged include one in San Francisco, where the immigrants are sent down a mine to collect the most gold
In Cape Canaveral, Florida, the hub of NASA, contestants would rush to build and launch a rocket.
There would also be ‘elimination challenges,’ where contestants get divided into two groups.
The teams would raft down the Arkansas River in Colorado, dig clams in Maine, put together a chassis for the 1914 Model T Ford on an assembly line in Detroit, and deliver mail via horseback and ferry from Missouri to Kansas.
Although there will be a winner who will become ‘our newest fellow American!’, Worsoff makes it clear losers will have all been pre-screened for eventual citizenship, so will have a leg-up when it comes to applying for citizenship in the more traditional way.
Game prizes would be ‘iconically American,’ such as 1 million American Airlines points, a $10,000 Starbucks Gift Card or a lifetime supply of 76 gasoline.
The live finale would feature the train braking at its final stop, Washington, DC, where the winner walks to Capitol Hill for a swearing-in ceremony.
As Thunderbird pilots fly overhead, a ‘top American politician or judge’ will perform the swearing in, read Worsoff’s pitch. ‘There won’t be a dry eye within 10 miles!’
Even before this pitch went public, Noem, 53, faced mounting criticism for her penchant for documenting and dramatizing the work of her department.
One particularly awkward photo shows her wearing an ill-fitting bulletproof vest, toting a machine gun that is accidentally pointed at the head of a Border Patrol Officer.
In another apparent photo-op, Noem angered liberals for wearing an expensive watch while simultaneously berating suspected gangsters at the notorious El Salvador prison where the Trump administration banished some migrants.
DailyMail.com has obtained photos showing how she has even adorned the walls of agency offices with framed pictures showing her in rough and tough photo-ops.
The Wall Street Journal last month published a scathing report about her ‘Made-for-TV Approach to Homeland Security.’
The article pointed out how just days after she took office as head of Homeland Security, she joined ICE agents on a predawn raid in New York City and tweeted about it before the raid had even concluded.
Insiders told the outlet that her post potentially alerted targets to the operation and ultimately resulted in fewer arrests than officials had expected.
‘Live this AM from NYC. I’m on it,’ Noem posted on X at 4:43am on January 28, along with a picture of herself hopping into a vehicle wearing an ICE baseball cap.
High profile conservatives including Meghan McCain and Megyn Kelly have torched the DHS secretary for her repeated photos ops in recent weeks, arguing that her desire for attention serves as a smoke screen to distract from the fact her agency has so far failed to fulfill Trump’s central campaign promise to deport millions of illegal immigrants.
Within her own department, some reportedly view her as little more than a spokeswoman or ‘face’ of the operation.
Noem introduced herself to her new workforce by walking on stage at a town hall meeting to the country song ‘Hot Mama’, insiders claim.
Since then, she’s made a series of changes which have ruffled feathers within the department, from pushing voluntary staff exits to implementing the use of lie detector tests to root out disloyal staff and leakers.
In spite of the criticism, the administration’s border policies have delivered some success, with illegal crossings down to the lowest point in decades.