CBS News Caught Distorting Noem’s Stance on Criminal Deportation
Secretary Kristi Noem, heading Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has recently taken part in a public session for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Review Council. The videoconference was hosted at the DHS Headquarters in Washington, D.C, on August 28, 2025. Lately, there seems to be a dispute generating around the broadcast news network, CBS News, who interviewed Noem during the session.
The bone of contention here revolves around how CBS News apparently edited out specific comments from Noem. As the Homeland Security Secretary, Noem has been sharp in her critique of CBS News for this. Those trimmed-off comments were focused on an individual named Kilmar Abrego Garcia, notorious as an MS-13 gang member, wife abuser, and child predator.
Highlighting the previous administration’s efforts to deport criminal immigrants for a safer America, Noem took particular reference to Garcia. The part of the discussion broadcasted on CBS News showed Noem attacking the liberty of such criminals. She was quoted, ‘[And] the one thing that we will continue to do is make sure that [Garcia] does not walk free in the United States of America.’
However, CBS News, presumably aiming for a softer narrative, decided to snip off the raw description of Garcia’s grizzly activities. What the audience missed from Secretary Noem was ‘This individual was a known human smuggler, MS-13 gang member, an individual who was a wife beater and someone who was so perverted that he solicited nude photos from minors and even his fellow human traffickers told him to knock it off.’ Unnerving revelations that show the depth of dysfunction in our system.
Keeping on her offensive, Noem continued, ‘He was so sick in what he was doing and how he was treating small children. So 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.’ By shoving these details under the carpet, CBS News has indeed managed to paint a downgraded image of such grave criminal acts.
This incident puts CBS News in the hot seat once again, as it was criticized earlier as well for deceitful editing. A prime episode that comes to mind is the ’60 Minutes’ interview of Kamala Harris for the 2024 White House elections. The heavily edited interview seemingly showed Harris in a coherent light, spurring accusations of election interferences.
President Trump opined on this saying, ‘The Election Interfering 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, which aired on CBS just before Election Day and deep into Early Voting, turned out to be much worse than expected, with her answers being unlawfully fixed, manipulated, and doctored throughout by CBS, in order to try and make Kamala appear at least somewhat coherent.’ From the look of it, CBS’ credibility seems to be dwindling with each passing day.
Trump’s digging into this matter exposed that CBS and its parent company Paramount were subjected to a whopping $16 million settlement, with another $20 million being scheduled for payment. All for delivering a doctored narrative that probably aimed at casting Harris in a positive light. This shows the lengths to which some media entities might go to maintain a deceivingly sympathetic impression among viewers.
Interestingly, Bill Belichick, the NFL coach currently steering the North Carolina Tar Heels, had a beef with CBS News about one of their interviews. He came down hard on the news network for an interview aired on ‘CBS Sunday Morning’. The interview was with his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, and Belichick flagged it for selective editing.
Belichick accused CBS of creating a fabricated narrative suggesting his girlfriend Hudson was trying to dominate the conversation. He arrested these accusations as simply not being genuine. A blunder such as this further rattles CBS News’ credibility.
When allegations were laid on CBS News by Belichick, alleging manipulation and presenting a misleading narrative to the audience, CBS News had to respond. However, it was a rather weak attempt at refuting an accusation leveled by a figure of Belichick’s stature.
Their response tried to assure viewers that the conversation wasn’t influenced by the network’s agenda. CBS News claimed that they did not impose ‘preconditions or limitations’ on the conversation. Although mentioned as reassurance, this lacks substance in the face of the growing pile of hard evidence against them.
By now, a pattern starts to emerge. A pattern of cutting corners, trimming uncomfortable truths, and arguably manipulating narratives to fit a certain agenda. Each incident stacked upon the previous instances makes it difficult to take CBS News’ supposed neutrality at face value.
All this brings us to question, where is journalism headed? If an esteemed network like CBS News gets caught up in such incidents, who maintains the responsibility to deliver uncensored truth to the public? It seems like we need a review and rehabilitative effort from all stakeholders.
As the scenario stands, one question haunts every thoughtful observer of this drama – Are similar, untruthful narratives emerging from routine interviews? Are audiences being fed a modified version of reality tailored to avoid discomfort? Until substantial change becomes evident, viewers might have to tread lightly and question everything.