Kristi Noem Cites Taylor Sheridan's 'Lioness' While Criticising ICE Coverage: 'The Media Sucks'

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has dominated headlines with incidents involving immigrants, including confrontations that have drawn questions over the agency's conduct.

Republican officials and supporters of President Donald Trump have defended ICE, while Kristi Noem, special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, found an unlikely ally in a TV show: Lioness.' The Paramount+ show, which centres on a special operations programme involving the CIA, recently concluded its third season.

'The Media Sucks'

Noem used the show to comment on the media coverage surrounding ICE. 'Taylor Sheridan is the smartest man in the room... The media sucks,' Noem said on social media, along with a clip from the show. Sheridan is the show's creator.

The clip features a hospital conversation between Tucker (LaMonica Garrett) and Randy (Austin Hébert), both members of the CIA's Quick Response Force (QRF). Randy was wounded in a shootout between the CIA and the show's antagonists. However, the shootout had a collateral fatality—an African diplomat with a security detail.

In the conversation, Randy asked how the CIA explained the shootout since it was too big to cover up. 'And now it's on the news,' Tucker said. 'How'd they sell it?' asked Randy. 'Dumped all the shit on ICE,' replied Tucker. 'Oh man, talk about kicking an agency when they're down!' Randy added.

The scene has since circulated online, with social media users sharing the scene whenever ICE is linked to new incidents.

Blame ICE?

On 20 September 2026, an ICE officer shot and wounded a man in Austin, Texas. The victim, identified as 28-year-old Venezuelan national Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, was seriously wounded but was initially reported to be in a stable condition. He was later placed in federal custody pending removal, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

'The terror and lawlessness (have) to stop,' said Democratic congresswoman Maxine Dexter. 'Transparency and accountability (are) of course needed. Body cam footage must be released, and an independent investigation launched.'

One reply referenced Lioness: 'No, if you watched Lioness on Sunday night, you will know ICE is the catch-all for government faux pas these days. FBI, CIA, DHS shoot anyone? It gets tossed to ICE.'

Another wondered: 'Those two scenes in Lioness where Joe's team carried out operations and there were casualties made me wonder how many things have been covered up in real life without the media telling us the full story. The first one was blamed on the cartel and the second one was put on ICE.'

Government Propaganda

But while Noem thinks Lioness shows how the media 'sucks' by not giving the full story, some viewers have described the show as government propaganda. One social media user asked: 'What appetite do the US people really have for this endless kind of war-mongering?'

Another shared: 'Lmaooo Lioness really peak propaganda communist college professor selling classified data to the Chinese government for free.'

The show was inspired by the real-life Team Lioness programme, which reportedly emerged in 2003 during the Iraq War. In reality, it was the US Marine Corps, not the CIA, that created the Lioness initiative.

One of the real-life Lionesses criticised the programme: 'It makes me mad that it doesn't follow what we did at all. They took the Team Lioness name and twisted it into a spy thing.'