The tremendous clear and moral Trump administration strikes once more.
The Division of Homeland Safety simply slid an nearly $1 billion contract to Salus Worldwide Options, an organization run by William Walters. That staggering sum is for “Project Homecoming,” the gross DHS program that ostensibly gives money bonuses, free flights, and a “concierge service” at airports for immigrants who self-deport.
Salus has by no means had a federal contract earlier than, however absolutely it’s extremely certified and geared up to handle practically a billion {dollars}, proper?
Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem
We’re solely studying about this sleazy deal due to a lawsuit filed by CSI Aviation, which particulars all the backroom shadiness that went into ensuring that Walters made financial institution.
Walters, unsurprisingly, started greasing the wheels to make this occur even earlier than President Donald Trump gained the 2024 election. He took a belt-and-suspenders method, giving $10,000 to a pro-Trump tremendous PAC run by Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem’s friends, and he additionally gave massive bucks to the America First Coverage Institute.
AFPI was principally MAGA in exile till Trump returned to energy. Based by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, AFPI has managed to stuff dozens of individuals into the administration, together with Rob Regulation, a DHS undersecretary of coverage.
In keeping with the lawsuit, Regulation helped coordinate the competitors for this big trough of cash, however the competitors was principally faux as hell. CSI Aviation alleges that, first, DHS shared data with Salus to assist with its bid, which triggered an investigation by DHS legal professionals.
After the investigation discovered that Salus had basically helped design the contract it was going to bid on, DHS determined to repair this by opening the contract as much as a aggressive bid. It then picked six different firms, which obtained the documentation essential to bid on the contract on Friday, Could 16, with a deadline of 10 AM the next Monday.
Evidently, a weekend was not sufficient time to develop an precise bid for a contract this massive. And by then, Salus already had the advantage of months of discussions with DHS. So shock, shock: Salus gained.
Has Salus ever dealt with something like this? In fact not. However now it has practically a billion {dollars} to run a posh program that doesn’t appear to be working very effectively. In October, ProPublica discovered that individuals who signed as much as self-deport ended up ready in useless for aircraft tickets and cash that by no means arrived, leaving them stranded and terrified.
Of the roughly 25,000 immigrants who opted to depart, practically half did so on their very own moderately than going by means of the administration’s “concierge service.” However giving an inexperienced firm nearly a billion bucks will certainly repair this.
Noem cosplays as a member of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Walters was already swimming in DHS money, having obtained $140 million just some weeks in the past to buy six Boeing 737 airplanes for deportations. However he obtained that deal by means of a unique firm of his, Daedalus Aviation. An actual jack of all trades, this man.
And talking of planes, who can overlook that Noem additionally simply obtained a few candy new jets of her personal for $172 million? She informed Congress that she wanted $50 million for one aircraft, and it isn’t in any respect clear to anybody how she then managed to get two planes for greater than triple the associated fee.
Noem additionally steered $220 million to some longtime buddies within the political promoting world, however that netted U.S. taxpayers some fairly footage of Cosplay Barbie on a horsey, so it was undoubtedly value it.
DHS basically has infinite cash at this level. Because the Brennan Heart put it, the $170 billion allotted for border enforcement within the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” created a “deportation-industrial complex.”
Sure, all of that is designed to torment immigrants and drive them overseas. But it surely’s additionally designed to make the worst folks very, very wealthy—and DHS is all in.
