Breaking down rumor Kristi Noem supported a reality TV show where immigrants compete for US citizenship
The Daily Mail's headline read: "ICE Barbie Kristi Noem is backing insane reality TV show where immigrants compete for fast-tracked citizenship."
Similarly, one Instagram post said: "No, this isn't 'The Onion.' Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, aka "ICE Barbie," is reportedly backing a new reality competition show called 'The American,' where immigrants can compete "for the honor of fast-tracking their way to U.S. citizenship."
The claim also appeared on X (archived), Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived) and TikTok (archived). Snopes readers likewise emailed us to ask if rumors about the alleged show pitch were true.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement that the "show in question" in the Daily Mail's report was "in the very beginning stages" of a DHS vetting process and had not yet received approval. On X (archived), McLaughlin denied that Noem had any knowledge of or involvement with the show, saying "Secretary Noem has not 'backed' or even aware of the pitch of any scripted or reality show." Snopes has not independently reviewed a reported pitch deck detailing the suggested show.
We reached out to representatives for TV producer Rob Worsoff, who pitched the show, according to the Daily Mail and other reports on the topic, to confirm whether the pitch and reported details about the show were authentic and to determine whether Noem has had any involvement in it. We await their replies.
Worsoff, who has previously worked on other reality TV shows including "Duck Dynasty" and "Dating Naked," reportedly told The Wall Street Journal he had not been in communication with Noem and did not know if she knew about the proposed show.
According to the Daily Mail, the proposed show would be called "The American." Contestants would arrive at the historic U.S. entry point of Ellis Island in New York City before traveling across the U.S. competing in state-themed challenges. The final contestant standing would receive U.S. citizenship at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Other contestants could take home "iconically American" prizes such as airline points, gift cards or a lifetime supply of gas.
McLaughlin's full statement to Snopes read:
The reporting by the Daily Mail is completely false, and an affront to respectable journalism. Secretary Noem has not "backed" or even reviewed the pitch of any scripted or reality show. The Department of Homeland Security receives hundreds of television show pitches a year, ranging from documentaries surrounding ICE and CBP border operation to white collar investigations by HSI. Each proposal undergoes a thorough vetting process prior to denial or approval. If the excuse for a reporter at the Daily Mail had even thought to ask, he would have learned the show in question is in the very beginning stages of that vetting process and has not received approval or denial by staff.
However, according to the Daily Mail, the outlet confirmed Noem supports the idea and wants it to go ahead. The publication also reported McLaughlin as saying: "I think it's a good idea." Snopes asked the DHS to confirm this comment and it replied with the above statement.
Noem had not publicly commented on reports about "The American" as of this writing. Noem was due to testify before the Senate on May 20, 2025, on her department's fiscal 2026 budget request. It was unclear at whether she would be asked about "The American."
Numerous outlets, including the Daily Mail, have nicknamed Noem "ICE Barbie" for her myriad public appearances (archived) (archived) (archived) showcasing her DHS fieldwork. Her apparent willingness to be in the public eye could have encouraged rumors that she supported "The American."
Coen, Susie. "Donald Trump's 'ICE Barbie' Is Ruffling Feathers." The Telegraph, 17 Apr. 2025, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/04/17/donald-trumps-ice-barbie-kristi-noem-ruffling-feathers/.
Cohen, Shawn. "Kristi Noem Wants Migrants to Battle for Citizenship on Reality TV." Mail Online, 15 May 2025, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14713113/DHS-Secretary-Kristi-Noem-reality-TV-immigrants-compete-US-citizenship.html.
Hackmann, Michelle, et al. "DHS Is Considering Reality Show Where Immigrants Compete for Citizenship." The Wall Street Journal, 16 May 2025, https://archive.is/20250516142053/https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/dhs-is-considering-reality-show-where-immigrants-compete-for-citizenship-47de277c#selection-2557.0-2560.0.
"Now ICE Barbie Wants Her Own Brand New $50M Private Jet." The Daily Beast, 15 May 2025, https://www.thedailybeast.com/now-ice-barbie-kristi-noem-wants-her-own-brand-new-50m-private-jet/.
Ornedo, Julia. "Kristi Noem Wants Migrants to Compete for Citizenship on New Reality Show." Daily Beast, 15 May 2025, https://archive.ph/rLIZA.
"Rob Worsoff | Writer, Producer, Director." IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0941641/. Accessed 16 May 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Buzz Feed
11 minutes ago
- Buzz Feed
Rachel Maddow Calls Out Trump's Authoritarian Moves
Hot Topic 🔥 Full coverage and conversation on Politics MSNBC's Rachel Maddow says Americans no longer have to fear potential authoritarianism in their own country, because 'we are there' already — and cited President Donald Trump 's widespread immigration raids, detainments without probable cause, and use of military force. 'We have crossed a line,' she said on The Rachel Maddow Show, Monday. 'We are in a place we did not want to be, but we are there. The thing we were all warning about for the last few years is not coming, it is here. We are in it. This is what [it's] like, it turns out.' Maddow argued that large swaths of the country might easily overlook this downward slide, as movies are still being produced, sports continue to be played, and families are still discussing the same old issues they always have around their kitchen table each night. 'But also, at the same time, life in the United States is profoundly changing,' Maddow added Monday. 'It's profoundly different than it was even six months ago, because we do now live in a country that has an authoritarian leader in charge.' She then put it even more bluntly: 'We have a consolidating dictatorship in our country.' While the MSNBC host went on to acknowledge that this might sound 'melodramatic,' Maddow noted the US now seems to have its own 'secret police,' which is commonplace across dictatorships, in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency under Trump. 'A massive, anonymous, unbadged — literally masked — totally unaccountable internal police force that apparently has infinite funding but no identifiable leadership,' said Maddow. 'And they act in ways designed to instill maximum fear and use maximum force.' Maddow continued: 'I mean, when you imagine an authoritarian country, what you imagine is masked secret police breaking people's car windows and snatching people off the streets and out of church parking lots and courtroom hallways and taking them away with no charges, no notice, no paperwork, no explanation, not letting them see lawyers and then moving them secretly to what are effectively black site prisons where they won't tell you who's there and where no one's allowed in to see what's going on.' Experts have already warned that one such prison, Florida's immigrant detention camp that Republicans have dubbed ' Alligator Alcatraz,' is 'a human rights disaster waiting to happen.' Democratic lawmakers initially blocked from visiting were finally granted access last month and confirmed its horrid conditions. The president has justified nationwide crackdowns on undocumented workers, as well as the detainment, arrest, and deportation of college students and professors across the US, as necessary protection against supposedly violent and anti-American immigrants. Maddow argued it won't stop there, however, and that the US military in multiple states has already 'extended the legal boundaries of nearby military bases' by hundreds of miles 'so they can give active duty US troops the power to arrest and search people on US soil.' 'We are not heading toward something like this,' Maddow said Monday. 'We are there. It is here. It is the environment in which we are now living. And so, given that you now live in a country with an authoritarian leader, the question is: What can you do for your country?'
Boston Globe
11 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Toppled Confederate statue in D.C. to be replaced in line with Trump's executive order
Advertisement The Pike statue restoration, which is targeted for October, 'aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation's capital and reinstate pre-existing statues,' the park service said in a statement. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Restoration is part of a larger narrative In March, Trump issued an The order targeted the Smithsonian network of museums as having 'come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.' It also instructed the Interior Department to restore any statue or display that was 'removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.' Related : Advertisement Pike, who died in 1891, is more known for his decades-long stint as a senior leader of the Freemasons than for his Confederate military career. The Masons lobbied Congress for the right to erect the statue on NPS land in 1901 — provided that he be depicted in civilian, not military, garb. But Pike did lead a regiment for the Confederacy during the Civil War. And as the only outdoor statue of a Confederate leader in Washington, D.C., it had been a source of controversy for decades. Even the brief Park Service A long history of demands for its removal The D.C. Council asked for its removal in 1992. In 2017, Mayor Muriel Bowser struck an agreement with congressional leaders to eventually remove it. When protesters toppled the statue in 2020 while police officers looked on, Trump — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington's non-voting delegate in Congress, called the Park Service move 'odd and indefensible' in a statement Monday. Norton said she would introduce legislation to remove the statue permanently and place it in a museum. 'I've long believed Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts,' she said, 'not remain in parks and locations that imply honor.'
San Francisco Chronicle
11 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
What's known and not yet known about the Justice Department's scrutiny of Trump-Russia probe origins
WASHINGTON (AP) — News that Attorney General Pam Bondi is moving to criminally investigate the Obama-era origins of the Trump-Russia investigation means that one of the most studied, and politically polarizing, chapters of modern American history will be under the microscope yet again. A saga with a long backstory Perhaps no issue continues to aggravate President Donald Trump more than the assessment by intelligence officials that Russia interfered in the 2016 election on his behalf and the investigation by law enforcement into whether his campaign colluded with Moscow to tip the outcome of the contest. Robert Mueller, the former FBI director tapped as special counsel by Trump's first Justice Department to investigate, found that Russia had waged a multi-prong operation in Trump's favor and that the Republican president's campaign welcomed the aid. But Mueller did not find sufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign. As president for a second time, Trump has made no secret of his desire to use the Justice Department as a weapon of retribution against perceived political adversaries he sees as having smeared him, including by calling for Obama-era officials to be jailed. And his administration, now more broadly and across multiple agencies, has been engaged in a effort to reopen the long-accepted conclusion — including among prominent Republicans — of Russian interference and to scrutinize the officials involved in reaching that assessment. A Bondi grand jury directive Bondi, a Trump loyalist, has directed Justice Department prosecutors to present evidence related to the Russia inquiry to a grand jury. Grand juries are tools used by prosecutors to issue subpoenas for records and prosecutors and to produce indictments based on the evidence they receive. The bar is low for an indictment given that the presentation of evidence by prosecutors is one-sided, though grand juries do have the option to decline to indict and have done so in the past. A person familiar with the matter confirmed Bondi's directive to The Associated Press but key questions remain. It was not disclosed, for instance, which prosecutors are pursuing the investigation, where the grand jury that might hear evidence is located and whether and when law enforcement officials might seek to bring criminal charges. The Justice Department, in an unusual statement last month, appeared to confirm the existence of an investigation into former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director James Brennan but provided no details or specifics. Potential targets of probe remain unclear It's not clear who might be targeted in the investigation, but the Trump administration has been aggressively challenging intelligence community conclusions about Russia's actions and intentions that had long ago seemed settled. It's been a welcome diversion for the administration as it confronts a wave of criticism from Trump's base and conservative influencers over the handling of records from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation. In the last month, Trump administration officials and allies have released a series of documents aimed at casting doubt on the extent of interference and at portraying the original Russia investigation as an Obama administration frame-job. The documents have been hailed as incontrovertible proof of a conspiracy, but a close inspection of the records shows they fall well short of that. Among the documents released by Tulsi Gabbard, the administration's director of national intelligence, are emails from 2016 showing that Obama administration officials recognized in 2016 that Russians had not hacked state election systems to manipulate votes in favor of Trump. But the absence of evidence that votes were switched — something the Obama administration never alleged — has no bearing on the ample evidence of other forms of Russia interference, including a hack-and-leak operation involving Democratic emails and a covert social media campaign aimed at sowing discord and spreading disinformation. Last week, Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a previously classified annex of a 2023 report by John Durham, the special counsel appointed by the first Trump administration to hunt for government misconduct in the Russia probe. The annex included a series of emails, including one from July 2016 that was purportedly sent by a senior staffer at a philanthropic organization founded by billionaire investor George Soros, that referred to a plan approved by then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to falsely link Trump to Russia. But Durham's own report took pain to note that investigators had not corroborated the communications as authentic and said the best assessment was that the message was 'a composites of several emails' the Russians had obtained from hacking — raising the likelihood that it was a product of Russian disinformation. Fresh scrutiny has also centered around the intelligence community assessment on Russian election interference, which was published in January 2017. An annex in a classified version of the assessment contained a summary of the so-called Steele dossier — a compilation of opposition research that included uncorroborated rumors and salacious gossip about Trump and Russia. The latest in a series of investigations Multiple government reports, including not only from Mueller but also a Republican-led Senate intelligence committee that included current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have documented Russia's activities in sweeping details. To be sure, reports from the Justice Department inspector general and Durham also identified significant flaws in the FBI's Russia investigation, including errors and omissions in applications the Justice Department submitted to a secretive surveillance court to eavesdrop on a national security adviser to the 2016 Trump campaign. But Durham found no criminal wrongdoing among government officials, bringing three criminal cases — two against private citizens that resulted in acquittals at trial and a third against a little-known FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to doctoring an email. It is unclear if there is any criminal wrongdoing that exists that Durham, who launched his investigation in 2019 and concluded it four years later, somehow missed during his sprawling inquiry.
