Watchdog: DHS Sec. Noem Millions Overbudget on Vanity Anti-Immigrant Ads While Trump Administration Threatens to Withhold Backpay From Furloughed Workers

Washington D.C. – The government shutdown drags on over the insistence of President Trump and his allies in Congress that millions of Americans lose their health care and premiums spike for millions more. Despite more Americans blaming them for the standoff, the White House is reportedly threatening to withhold backpay from furloughed federal workers whenever the government reopens. The Trump administration continues to struggle to defend its ‘Big Ugly’ priorities after passing severe funding cuts for food aid and Medicaid, which millions of seniors rely on, to pay for another tax break for the super wealthy. Meanwhile, someone clearly not want for taxpayer-funded resources amid the administration’s extreme and unpopular austerity measures is DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.  

An updated Accountable.US review has found that Noem’s DHS has so far paid out $219.9 million for self-promoting, “thinly-veiled propaganda” ads about the border to two LLCs run by longtime Republican political strategists, one of whom is connected to Noem’s “de facto” chief of staff Corey Lewandowski. In February, Noem said her department would spend $200 million on the ads over two years. However, amended contracts with both media companies now indicate that the department expects to spend $440 million by 2027.

“When it comes to tax giveaways for billionaires and price-gouging corporations, the Trump administration always finds plenty of money — trillions in fact,” said Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk. “The administration found the money to pledge U.S. military protection for Qatar where President Trump has a golf course and where his crypto partner has hundreds of millions of dollars in business ties. They even found several extra million dollars on the top of the $200 million budgeted for the DHS Secretary’s overtly political anti-immigrant vanity project starring Kristi Noem herself – with another $240 million expected to be wasted. But when it comes to basic resources to keep health care premiums from exploding and keep working Americans covered, the administration says they’d rather shut down the government instead – while punishing workers caught up in furloughs by denying backpay. Based on the polls, it’s clear the administration is convincing no one that so many working Americans, seniors, veterans and children should be worse off to help the rich get richer.” 

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