Kristi Noem’s DHS Hits an Abhorrent New Low

The woman was deported to Guatemala in early May, but four days after arriving in the country, a judge disposed of a 14-year-old arrest warrant against her and freed her from custody. The warrant had been issued in 2011, according to the woman’s fiancé—who still lives in Tennessee—in connection to an ex-boyfriend who had shot his father.

According to new reporting from the Daily Beast, after the woman spoke to the Banner about the horrible ICE conditions, the DHS used this old warrant to claim she was still wanted for “homicide”—and that she’d also been “arrested twice for child abuse/neglect with the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office.” The outlet reports:

A letter from Judge Edgar Anibal Arteaga Lopez to the Juzgado de Paz, which handles criminal and civil cases, dated May 13, shows that an order had been issued revoking the arrest warrant, granting immediate release, and directing that her name be removed from any outstanding warrant databases. The judge also notified the director-general of the National Civil Police in Guatemala City that the arrest warrant had been rendered void. It is not known when she was cleared of involvement in the alleged crime.

The court documents were issued six weeks before DHS claimed that she was wanted for “homicide.”

The child-abuse allegations were also phony and misleading. The mother-of-six had been arrested once in May 2022—when her youngest kid left the house and was later found in the street, and once for not showing up to the court hearing. Her partner (who has also denounced the report as a “bunch of BS”) says the child had wandered out while her mother was cooking dinner.

The DHS has denied (and deflected) the Daily Beast’s reporting, refusing on three accounts to provide any proper evidence around the accusations. On Thursday, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin released a statement: “It’s disgusting the Daily Beast would choose to peddle a sob story of a child abuser. These types of smears are leading to our brave law enforcement facing a 1,000% increase in assaults against them.” (The 1,000% statistic is a common talking point used by DHS pawns—but one that lacks actual evidence.) 

Since his election in January, Trump’s office has unleashed a wildly cruel deportation campaign, kicking off with his promise to “deport millions” from day one. Pregnant people have been especially abused under the new regime, reporting credible human rights abuses (all of which have also been “debunked” by the DHS’s misinformation campaign). So long as the inhumanity grows, expect the lies to, too.