STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.

Satire Origin

Did Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem "Admit" under oath that Republicans voted to allow Jan. 6 rioters to serve in ICE roles, as numerous viral posts claimed? No, that's not true: The claim appeared in a meme spread by an account labelled "Satire/Parody". There's no record of such a statement by Noem on the Department of Homeland Security website, on Google News' index of thousands of news sites, nor in C-SPAN transcripts or video coverage of government hearings.

The claim originated in a June 4, 2025 Facebook post (archived here) on The Angry Creamsicle page under the title "So let me get this straight". It opened:

--Kristi Noem, Trump's head of Homeland Security, admitted under oath that Republicans are now letting January 6th rioters slip into ICE uniforms like it's casual Friday at the insurrectionist employment office?

This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:

(Source: Facebook screenshot by Lead Stories)

The Angry Creamsicle's page description opens with a poem critical of Donald Trump and categorizes itself as satire:

(Source: Facebook.com screenshot by Lead Stories.)

Lead Stories searched the Department of Homeland Security's website of official testimony, which would include any Noem testimony before congressional committees. No record of such a statement by Noem was indexed there:

(Source: WWW.dhs.gov screenshot by Lead Stories.)

Lead Stories also searched the library of C-SPAN, the cable channel that covers U.S. government hearings and official business. C-SPAN's index of her 19 recorded appearances on the channel uncovered no Noem testimony concerning the hiring of Jan. 6 rioters since their pardon by President Trump.

Google News, which indexes thousands of news sites, found no instances of Noem saying - under oath or not - that Noem said people pardoned after criminal prosecution for participation in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol would be hired by ICE. Using the search terms "Noem AND January 6 AND ICE", the only related story found was a Yahoo.com link to a Snopes.com debunk of the claim.

Lead Stories requested information about the supposed ICE hirings from press staff of The White House and the Department of Homeland Security. In a June 9, 2025 email, a representative of the White House press office referred the matter to her colleagues at Homeland Security. Homeland Security's press office emailed Lead Stories June 9 to "acknowledge receipt" of the request. We will update this fact check when they respond with information useful to readers.

The Angry Creamsicle posts almost hourly during business hours, often using AI images that put Trump and his allies in unflattering looks and situations.

Readers interested in more fact checks about Noem will find them organized here.

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