#dhs-spending

#dhs-spending

During Noem's appearance before Congress on Tuesday, Senator John Kennedy, among other lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle, pressed Noem about the department's spending of taxpayer dollars, including a $220 million ad contract. The ads, which Noem said were intended to encourage undocumented immigrants to leave the US, included footage of the now-former secretary riding a horse in front of Mount Rushmore while delivering stern messages about border enforcement.

The Department of Homeland Security is planning to spend $38.3 billion turning warehouses into immigrant detention centers, according to documents shared late Thursday by New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte. Ayotte said in a statement that she received the documents in response to an inquiry about the economic impact on the town of Merrimack, where $158 million will be spent to retrofit a warehouse into a holding facility.

The ads are so widespread that TV viewers and social media users alike are seeing them everywhere, including on YouTube, Spotify, and LinkedIn. In one recent ad seen on LinkedIn, a stern-faced Uncle Sam points at the viewer. The message reads: "Join ICE Today" along with the note, "$50,000 signing bonus" at the bottom. Likewise, a 30-second TV spot that originally aired during the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards broadcast in September has been spotted nationwide in the months since.