{"id":335,"date":"2025-03-21T18:46:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T19:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/?p=335"},"modified":"2025-03-24T11:24:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T11:24:19","slug":"house-democrats-launch-investigation-of-dhs-ads-on-trump-immigration-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/21\/house-democrats-launch-investigation-of-dhs-ads-on-trump-immigration-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"House Democrats launch investigation of DHS ads on Trump immigration policies"},"content":{"rendered":"

House Democrats are launching an investigation into an ad campaign from the Trump administration on its immigration policies, saying it may have violated federal spending guidelines by promoting political aims and giving contracts to administration allies.<\/p>\n

Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are investigating new ads<\/a>\u00a0launched by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that praise Trump for his immigration policies while warning migrants not to travel to the U.S.<\/p>\n

The Democrats note the funding came after the president requested an ad thanking him for his actions at the border, and that contracts to do so went to firms with ties to the Trump campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cContrary to DHS\u2019s stated intent of the campaign, reports indicate that, at the express direction of President Donald Trump, DHS is paying significant sums to produce and distribute materials with the intent of lauding the President\u2019s draconian immigration policies. In doing so, DHS appears to have evaded the competitive bidding process that ensures taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly, instead awarding this vanity project\u2026to enrich Republican campaign consultants,\u201d Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the Homeland Security ranking member, and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the Oversight ranking member, wrote to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.<\/p>\n

The letter said the contracts were a \u201cmultiple-award indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract\u201d allowing payments of up to $200 million over two years.<\/p>\n

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s common for DHS to run ads encouraging migrants not to come to the U.S. \u2014 the Biden administration did so in a number of languages.<\/p>\n

But the letter suggests Trump may have had another aim in mind, referencing a speech from Noem at this year\u2019s Conservative Political Action Conference in which she noted that the president requested the campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018I want you in the ads, and I want your face in the ads \u2026 but I want the first ad, I want you to thank me, so I want you to thank me for closing the border,\u2019\u201d Noem said during the speech.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I said, \u2018Yes, sir, I will thank you for closing the border.’\u201d<\/p>\n

The first words of the ad are \u201cThank you, President Donald J. Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

While DHS has also said it plans to run their ads \u201cin multiple countries and regions in various dialects,\u201d much of the initial media buys that have been disclosed indicate a broader domestic focus.<\/p>\n

According to Politico, the ad initially aired during<\/a> the “Today\u201d show and \u201cGood Morning America,\u201d with the Spanish-language version airing in markets with a sizable share of Spanish speakers.<\/p>\n

But according to the letter, there was also \u201ca specific $30,000 carveout to air the ads in West Palm Beach \u2026 when the President was reportedly there.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the contracts was given to People Who Think LLC, which is owned by Jay Connaughton, who served as media adviser for Trump\u2019s 2016 campaign and recently worked with former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.<\/p>\n

Another $16 million contract was given to Safe America Media LLC, which was incorporated by Republican consultant Mike McElwain just 11 days before the ad campaign was announced.<\/p>\n

Neither firm immediately responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the significant costs of the advertising campaign, the questionable choices made in deploying the ads, and the awardees\u2019 relationships with President Trump, the Trump campaign, and other federal officials, the Committees seek to ensure that the contracting process was fair, ethical, and compliant with all applicable federal regulations, and that the campaign complies with all relevant prohibitions on the use of taxpayer funds for improper purposes,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Democrats are launching an investigation into an ad campaign from the Trump administration on its immigration policies, saying it may have violated federal spending guidelines by promoting political aims and giving contracts to administration allies. Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are investigating new ads\u00a0launched by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that praise Trump for his immigration policies while…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions\/336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}