After appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation over the weekend, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is rebutting deceptive edits that seek to “whitewash the truth.”
Noem appeared on the program on Sunday to discuss the facts about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the alleged MS-13 gang member who was deported to El Salvador in March but later returned to face federal charges for human trafficking.
His case has prompted an ongoing court battle, spurred on by Democrats who have made an illegal immigrant gangbanger and spousal abuser their “due process” poster boy and activist judges who defy anything the Trump administration does related to immigration.
Noem took to social media to set the record straight, sharing the uncut version of her response and what aired on CBS.
This morning, I joined CBS to report the facts about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Instead, CBS shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety.
Watch for the part of my interview that @CBS tried to… pic.twitter.com/28fsGZug48
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) August 31, 2025
“CBS shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety,” Noem shared on X. “Watch for the part of my interview that @CBS tried to cover up.”
Later Sunday, DHS issued a news release to explain that important facts were edited out, noting that CBS cut nearly four minutes of her 16 minute and 40 second interview during the broadcast.
“In doing so CBS removed more than 23% of Secretary Noem’s answers exposing the truth about criminal illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia, President Donald Trump’s lawful actions to protect the American people, and Secretary Noem’s commitment to fight on behalf of the American people and their tax dollars,” DHS said.
But it’s no surprise CBS has joined the list of Democratic lawmakers and biased news outlets who have downplayed or ignored the facts of Abrego Garcia’s case.
They have rallied behind Abrego Garcia, calling him a “wrongfully deported Maryland man” who didn’t receive due process, despite his questionable past that includes multiple run-ins with police, ties to MS-13 gang members and allegations of domestic abuse.
Specifically, the following 25 seconds were cut from Noem’s answer:
“This individual was a known human smuggler, MS-13 gang member, an individual who was a wife beater, and someone who was um so perverted that he solicited nude photos from minors. And even his fellow human traffickers told him to knock it off. He was so sick in what he was doing and how he was treating small children. So, uh, he needs to never be in the United States of America and our administration is making sure we’re doing all that we can to bring him to justice.”
During an answer to a question about Secretary Noem’s successful arrest of 5,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles, CBS cut the following:
“… And many of these individuals were people who have, you know, conducted horrific um horrific activities against American citizens, trafficking of children and pedophiles. And so that’s uh one of the things that the people of a LA can be grateful for is that they don’t have those bad actors, those people on their streets anymore because of the work of President Trump and his administration.”
Face the Nation cut out several other responses related to Noem’s fight for the American people to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent correctly, as well as plans to hire 10,000 new agents to reestablish law and order by year’s end.
CBS cut an entire answer from Noem explaining how DHS is maintaining its standards while streamlining the hiring and training process. Ed O’Keefe even led with the blatantly negative question: “Did the hiring standards get lowered in part to meet this daily quota of 3,000 arrests?”
“We did not reduce any of the qualifications or time frames,” Noem said. “What we did was that we made sure that we were being much more efficient in getting these officers out on the street and giving them more opportunity to get trained uh quickly and recognize the previous training that they had.
Fox News also shared the two versions on X with the caption: “‘REPORT THE FACTS’: @Sec_Noem accuses CBS News of editing her interview to “whitewash the truth” about an alleged MS-13 gang member, but the network says it was simply cut for time and meets all standards.”
The Abrego Garcia case is a legal battle that just won’t end, despite the fact Abrego Garcia admitted to illegally entering the country and a judge denied his request for asylum in 2019. He was granted protection from deportation to El Salvador based on a “credible fear” that he would face gang violence there.
Various police and court records show he was a confirmed MS-13 gang member and arrested with nearly $1,200 cash in 2019 in Maryland.
Abrego Garcia’s wife also sought protective orders against him, accusing him of several incidents of domestic violence. In a 2021 court filing, written in Jennifer Vasquez’s own handwriting, she alleged Abrego Garcia repeatedly beat her, writing: “At this point, I am afraid to be close to him. I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he [has] left me.”
In June, the U.S. Department of Justice filed federal charges against him for human smuggling related to a 2022 traffic stop. DHS released a report on the traffic stop in April.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected Abrego Garcia of transporting illegal immigrants for money. He had eight passengers in the vehicle and was driving with an expired license.
The THP officers contacted Biden’s FBI, but they said to let him go. THP gave him a warning for the expired license.
In late August, he was released by an activist judge in Tennessee and transported to Maryland while he awaits trial on the human smuggling charges. On Aug. 25, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took him back into custody and announced plans to deport to him to Uganda, but his lawyers have since challenged that deportation attempt.
On Aug. 27, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys filed a new asylum application. They argued that because he was deported and then returned to the U.S. in June, the one-year deadline to apply for asylum was reset.
Also that day, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued a temporary restraining order, blocking Abrego Garcia’s deportation until at least mid-October. The judge also ordered that he remain in custody within 200 miles of her court in Maryland to ensure access to his lawyers.
