DHS Is Reportedly Considering “Reality” Show for Immigrants to Win Citizenship

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reportedly in the beginning stages of teaming up with a famed reality television producer to create a show in which immigrants would compete for the chance to become a U.S. citizen.

According to The Daily Mail, which viewed a 35-page draft of producer Rob Worsoff’s proposal, the show would feature immigrants squaring off with each other in various “American” tasks — including log-rolling in northern Wisconsin and mining for gold in California, among other ideas, traveling by train to each destination.

Worsoff’s credits include “Duck Dynasty” and “Dating Naked.” His pitch idea, titled “The American,” would also include consolation prizes for those who do not win citizenship, such as thousands of dollars in Starbucks gift cards and a lifetime supply of 76 gasoline.

While the Daily Mail has reported that the project is “in coordination with the DHS secretary,” DHS denies that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is involved with or even aware of the project.

“The Department of Homeland Security receives hundreds of television show pitches a year,” read a statement from DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, noting that many of the pitches are for documentaries.

Notably, McLaughlin’s statement doesn’t say the pitch has been denied yet, and she has said that she personally thinks the show is “a good idea.”

Citing its own sources, The Daily Mail reported that it “has confirmed that Noem supports the project and wants to proceed” with it.

Several users on social media have described the proposal as being similar to the competition in the “Hunger Games,” the dystopian young adult novel where oppressed children compete in a battle royale to the death for the chance at income for life and special status within society.

Noem is notorious for doing publicity stunts within her department, including earmarking $200 million for anti-immigration ads featuring herself, posing in front of immigrants deported from the U.S. to an El Salvador megaprison, and having herself filmed in a ride-along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in a raid on migrants. During a budget hearing in Congress on Wednesday, several lawmakers criticized her seeming need to be in front of a camera, taking note of her “many photo ops and costume changes” since assuming her position as DHS secretary.

But Noem’s videos and other photo ops are “exactly what the president asked for,” Truthout’s Schuyler Mitchell wrote in April. “Trump himself, of course, has roots as a reality TV star, and he’s long had a knack for capturing the public’s attention. Indeed, the videos [and other content by Noem] lay bare a core tenet of this administration: that the cruelty, as the adage goes, is the point.”