On March 4, Kristi Noem was caught in hot water as she had to attend a House Judiciary Committee hearing on “Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security” to testify about a $220 million border security advertising campaign.
According to Reuters, there wasn’t a standard bidding process in place for the campaign, and a contract was presented to Republican-connected firms. Noem also faced bipartisan criticism over the ad campaign during congressional hearings. Trump claims that he was unaware of the ad campaign featuring Noem. However, Noem told the senators that Trump not only knew about the ad campaign, but even approved it.
During the House Judiciary Committee hearing, it was revealed that the contract for this ad campaign was connected to two Republican-based companies. Safe America Media, based in Delaware, was awarded $143 million. People Who Think, a company based in Louisiana, was awarded $77 million.
The contents of this ad campaign would have contained footage filmed on horseback at Mount Rushmore.
On March 5, Trump spoke about Noem being fired from her position as Homeland Security Secretary, and her reappointment as Special Envoy of The Shield of the Americas.
“[Noem] will be moving to be Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere,” Trump said.
U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R) of Oklahoma will take over as the Department of Homeland Security Chief effective on March 31.
It seems Noem made these decisions with a conflict of interest in mind. Senator John Kennedy (R) of Louisiana confronted Noem about the contracts at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. He made a point that the Strategy Group, which is a political consulting firm, is “run by the husband of Noem’s outgoing Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin.”
“Safe America Media was a company formed 11 days before you picked them,” Kennedy said.
“ . . . The Strategy Group got most of the money, and the head of that is married to your former spokesperson.”
The Strategy Group came out and said they never had a contract with the Department of Homeland Security. They had a “subcontract” with Safe America for “limited production services.” Safe America paid them “226,137.17” for “5 film shoots, 45 produced video advertisements and 6 produced radio advertisements.”
Noem responded to Kennedy’s comments with the knowledge that she facilitated this process correctly.
“I did not have anything to do with picking those contractors,” Noem said. “Career officials at the Department of Homeland Security” ran “a competitive bid process.”
Noem also stated that there is a policy in place where she has to review contracts that are over $100 million.
Regardless of Noem’s reassignment, it is safe to say that she is disliked across America. After the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, who were killed by federal agents under Noem’s employ, Noem called them “domestic terrorists.”
Noem has been known to sign off on “aggressive enforcement tactics, warrantless raids and mass detention camps.” The Associated Press also stated that a “secretive policy directive” by Noem authorized Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to forcibly enter private residences “without a judicial warrant.”
The memo, which was signed by acting ICE director Todd Lyons, asked agents to rely solely on an “administrative removal document” to bypass Fourth Amendment requirements, which prohibit unreasonable searches and seizures by the government, requiring law enforcement to obtain a warrant.
Not only that, Noem has initiated a $38 billion “procurement effort” to buy and refurbish around 24 warehouses across the country to serve as mass deportation camps.
Noem would also approve grants or contracts that were $100,000, which has caused strain with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Noem’s vetting process at FEMA has caused more than “1,000 contracts, grants and awards to be held up.”
FEMA said that this process has made it harder for the agency to respond to disasters and threats.
The Department of Justice said that Noem was responsible for “continuing deportation flights of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador in March,” even though a judge ruled that the flights must be returned to the U.S.
The Department of Homeland Security also came under fire for spending more than $300 million on three private luxury jets, including “two Gulfstream G700s purchased in October and a Boeing 737, nicknamed the ‘Big Beautiful Jet.’” (Classy.)
Not only is Noem trying to redo the worst parts of U.S. history with no concept of financial management, but she apparently also believes in animal abuse. In Noem’s memoir called “No Going Back,” Noem said that she fatally shot her 14-month-old wirehair pointer “on her family farm” because the dog was “untrainable.” This is disgusting and horrific, as there are other ways to work around untrainable animals, such as admitting them to a shelter or finding a forever home for the animals.
Noem didn’t stop there, as she also killed a goat. There was no explanation for this, and there is never a justification for animal abuse.
According to Noem and in testimony to Congress, Noem said that Corey Lewandowski didn’t “have a role in contract approvals.” However, ProPublica said that this statement contradicts internal documents.
Also, why would Lewandowski fire a pilot over the fact that Noem had a missing blanket? This sounds like simp behavior. After this, the pilot was reinstated to fly the plane because he was one of the few who could do so.
While Noem was suffering without her blankie, immigrants and U.S. citizens across America are either being attacked or are dying at the hands of her merciless policies in which ICE agents carried out her bidding. As we can see here, Noem is a monster without sheep’s clothing. Her barbaric behavior is out in the open. Noem’s presence as Homeland Security Secretary was atrocious, and I’m glad she is no longer at the head.
