Margaret Brennan Tries to Lowball Illegal Alien Crime Rate, Kristi Noem Shuts Her Down [WATCH]

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and CBS host Margaret Brennan engaged in a tense exchange during a televised interview over the percentage of illegal immigrants in federal custody who have criminal records, with both sides disputing the accuracy of the figures being cited.

The disagreement centered on statistics related to illegal immigrants detained by federal authorities and whether they have been charged with or convicted of crimes.

Noem argued that a large majority of those detained have violent criminal histories, while Brennan cited figures she said came from the Department of Homeland Security’s own data.

During the exchange, Noem asserted that most illegal immigrants taken into custody by federal agents have criminal records tied to serious offenses.

“70% of them have committed or have charges against them on violent crimes, and crimes that they are charged with or been convicted of that have come from other countries that are here illegally, first of all, and then they have committed a criminal act while they’ve been here or in their home countries as well,” Noem said.

Brennan immediately challenged the claim.

“It’s not 70%,” Brennan responded.

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Noem rejected the pushback and accused the media of selectively presenting statistics.

“Yes, it is. It absolutely is. You guys keep changing your percentage. You pick and choose what numbers you think work, but that is the facts,” Noem said.

“Is that 70% of the people that we have detained have charges against them, or have been convicted of charges, and they need to be brought to justice, and we’re going to keep doing that, no matter how much you guys keep lying and don’t tell the public the truth.”

Noem continued by tying immigration enforcement directly to directives from President Donald Trump and the mission of federal law enforcement officers.

“It absolutely is that these law enforcement officers are out there every day doing the work to protect the American people, and they will keep doing that because they believe in enforcing the law, which is exactly what President Trump has charged them with,” she said.

Brennan then pointed to figures she said were drawn from DHS’s own reporting, offering a lower percentage.

“Okay, well, our reporting is that 47% based on your agency’s own numbers, 47% have criminal convictions against them. But let’s talk about the other numbers again,” Brennan said.

Noem responded by saying her department would provide data it believes more accurately reflects the situation.

“Absolutely. We’ll get you the correct numbers so you can use them in the future,” Noem said.

Brennan pushed back again, maintaining that CBS was relying on official DHS information.

“Well, that’s from your agency. Let’s talk about our numbers here at CBS,” Brennan said.

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