Forget about your politics for a second. This should bother you no matter which side of the aisle you sit on. If the details below are accurate, this looks a lot like taxpayer abuse.
Read on.
Situation Recap
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched a $220 million advertising campaign in 2025, funded by U.S. taxpayers, intended to raise awareness of the crisis at the southern border.
You can debate the policy objective all day long. That’s not the issue here.
The issue is how the contract was awarded and who received it.
Contract Awarded Through an Expedited Process
According to reporting from ALXNow, DHS invoked the federal procurement clause for “unusual and compelling urgency.” That designation allows agencies to bypass the normal competitive bidding process. The justification: the national emergency at the southern border and the need to counter misinformation.
Anyone who has spent time working with federal, state, or local government procurement knows how unusual that is. Competitive bidding isn’t just a best practice in government contracting. It’s practically sacred. “Expedited” and “government contracting” rarely appear in the same sentence.
In congressional testimony on Tuesday, Senator John Kennedy questioned the fairness of the bidding process. According to reporting from National Review, Kennedy pointed out that part of the contract went to a political firm connected to Republican consultant Ben Yoho, Chief Executive Officer at The Strategy Group Company, the husband of former DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. So a questionable bidding process AND political ties. Hmmm.
Not surprisingly, Secretary Kristi Noem testified that she was not involved in approving the contract and maintained that the subcontract itself was awarded through a competitive process.
A Newly Created Company Wins the Contract
The primary contractor, Safe America Media LLC, raises even more questions.
The company was incorporated just eight days before receiving the contract and lists an Alexandria, Virginia mailing address. Safe America Media LLC has also been linked to Republican consultant Mike McElwain. “The property is owned by Mike McElwain, a Republican consultant and partner at DMM Media, which is registered in Virginia as Designated Market Media, Inc., according to State Corporation Commission records.”
Further, according to ALXNow, the company did not appear in SAM.gov — the federal government’s contractor registration system — at the time the contract was awarded. That detail surfaced in a March 21, 2025 letter from House Democratic lawmakers to Secretary Noem questioning the legitimacy of the procurement process.
For a contract worth $220 million, that timeline alone should raise some eyebrows.
The End Result: The Ads Themselves
During Senate testimony, Senator Kennedy questioned DHS’s decision to spend $220 million on an immigration enforcement campaign that prominently featured Secretary Noem herself. Noem defended the ads, arguing they were effective at communicating the administration’s deportation efforts and helping reduce illegal immigration. Kennedy responded with a line that summed up the skepticism surrounding the campaign: “It was effective in increasing your name recognition.”
Bottom Line
Strip away the politics and this situation still raises serious questions:
• A $220 million taxpayer-funded advertising campaign with a questionable goal
• Awarded under emergency procurement rules
• To a company formed only eight days before the contract
• That apparently was not registered in the federal contractor system at the time
Maybe there are clean explanations for all of this.
But from the outside, the whole thing smells a bit funny to me. Not to mention the fact that a company formed in 8 days was able to successfully steward a $220 million dollar campaign. Media buying isn’t rocket science but you do have to have some idea of what you’re doing.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Not on the politics but on the process. Was anyone involved from the supply side that could shed any light on how this went down? Particularly interested in who placed the ads.
Sources:
- National Review — “Senate Judiciary Committee Savages Noem over Agency Spending, Personal Ties to DHS Contract Recipient” (March 3, 2026)
- ALXNow — “Firm using Alexandria address wins $220M federal contract for Trump immigration ads” (October 22, 2025)
Northampton Consulting 