That is the $200 million advert marketing campaign that has saturated tv and social media for months, through which Noem points stern warnings towards crossing the US border illegally.
The advert blitz shouldn’t be your typical low-budget public service announcement. Axios labeled it “the most expensive political ad campaign of the year.” For context, the huge California marketing campaign on redistricting — in some of the costly markets within the nation — value about $41 million.
Notably, the DHS marketing campaign sidestepped the aggressive bidding course of required for many authorities contracts. To get round that mandate, Noem relied on what has turn out to be a favourite Trump administration tactic for fast-tracking options: the nationwide emergency. President Donald Trump has deployed it for every part from power and tariffs to drug enforcement and the border.
The company insisted the no-bid contract was wanted as a result of “any delay in providing these critical communications to the public will increase the spread of misinformation, especially misinformation by smugglers.” But preliminary adverts simply confirmed Noem thanking Trump for securing the border and “putting America first.” She additionally issued an overtly political message that blamed earlier “weak politicians” for actions that “left our borders open” and “put American lives at risk.” (That’s uncommon for taxpayer-funded public service campaigns.)
I spoke with Richard Painter, former chief ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush, who now teaches company regulation on the College of Minnesota. He rebuffed the notion {that a} nationwide emergency may present the rationale for such no-bid contracts.
“If every problem is a national emergency you wind up with a president and executive branch that can do whatever they want,” Painter stated. “You have to exercise great care that such power is not abused. Even after 9/11 we wound up with some overreach. The border is a problem. It is not a national emergency.”
Painter, who suggested Bush incessantly on authorities contracts and potential conflicts, stated that aggressive bidding is required for good causes. It establishes the parameters of the challenge, lays out pricing, timelines and vendor {qualifications} — all essential he stated, for being cautious stewards of taxpayer funds.
Stepping round that course of, he warned, can open the door to fraud, shady connections or contracts awarded to huge donors or well-connected buddies and kinfolk.
ProPublica, in a current story concerning the no-bid contract, discovered it benefitted at the least one Republican consulting agency, the Technique Group, with longstanding private and enterprise ties to Noem and senior advisor, Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump marketing campaign supervisor. The Technique Group, which put collectively the Rushmore advert, doesn’t seem on public paperwork, ProPublica discovered. Its CEO is married to Noem’s prime spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin.
ProPublica was not the primary to see doable crimson flags. In March, two Home Democrats — Bennie Thompson, rating member on the Homeland Safety Committee, and Gerry Connolly, rating member on the Oversight Committee — tried to acquire paperwork and particulars about what they termed a “vanity project.” (Noem had run comparable advertising campaigns as South Dakota’s governor, when she launched a collection of job recruitment adverts that showcased her as every part from a dental assistant to a plumber.)
Thompson and Connolly famous in a letter to Noem that her personal assertion from a 2025 political convention confirmed Trump had particularly requested her for a “marketing campaign,” stating “I want you to thank me for closing the border.” Noem stated within the assertion, “Yes sir, I will thank you for closing the border.”
Some GOP lawmakers are additionally dismayed at Noem’s broader monetary administration of DHS, and criticized her company this summer time for transferring cash from different accounts to fund ICE’s costly mass deportation program. One committee report famous that “allowing operations to significantly exceed available resources is wholly irresponsible and perpetuates fiscal mismanagement.”
Immigration enforcement on this nation has lengthy been underfunded. Now, DHS is awash in funding after netting $165 billion from Congress for border management and immigration enforcement. At a time when different federal appropriations have been slashed, DHS has turn out to be one of many few departments with cash to burn. Noem’s current announcement of a $1 billion in investments to reinforce TSA safety checkpoints throughout the nation is an instance of spending going the place it’s wanted. However there’s extra to do. As a substitute of firing scores of immigration judges, because the Division of Justice has finished, put aside funds to rent extra of them. Ensure that detention facilities have enough beds, meals and medical provides. Put money into programs that can let wrongly detained authorized immigrants, vacationers and residents go free shortly.
And skip the shiny adverts.
Patricia Lopez is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist masking politics and coverage. ©2025 Bloomberg. Distributed by Tribune Content material Company.
