DHS Contracts Following News of Bribery Investigation
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) led their committee colleagues in demanding answers from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on all Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contracts that White House Border Czar Tom Homan may have been involved in following reports that he was being investigated for allegedly accepting $50,000 in cash from undercover agents in exchange for promising to deliver federal contracts. The senators are calling on Secretary Noem to provide documents and information related to Homan’s potential influence regarding awards of DHS contracts or grants, including whether award decisions may have benefitted a private company for which he once worked. U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), John Fetterman (D-PA), and Andy Kim (D-NJ) joined Peters, Slotkin and Gallego in sending the letter.
“If true, this alleged conduct by a senior government official is unacceptable,” wrote the senators. “These allegations are particularly concerning considering Mr. Homan’s apparent conflicts of interest and recent contracts that have reportedly been awarded to his previous clients and companies. For example, Mr. Homan previously worked as a consultant for the GEO Group, a private prison corporation that is also a leading contractor for ICE. Since the start of the Trump Administration, GEO Group has been awarded several new contracts, including a 15-year contract valued at $1 billion for a detention facility in New Jersey. Additionally, media reporting indicates that Homan played a key part in hiring a former GEO Group executive to a top ICE position that oversees contracts for immigrant detention centers.”
The senators continued: “It is critical that the American people be able to trust that the influence of White House and other government officials has not been bought, and that contracts will be awarded to companies based on merit, not to those willing to pay bribes. Our homeland security should not be for sale so that one official can provide favors to his friends, and we encourage the Department to treat this investigation with the seriousness it deserves.”
The full text of the letter is available here.
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