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The Department of Homeland Security has budgeted as much as $200 million for its new ad campaign warning migrants in the country illegally that “we will find you and deport you,” according to documents reviewed by Semafor.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced the two-year “nationwide and international multimillion-dollar ad campaign,” which includes TV, radio and digital spots, on Monday evening. In the initial ad shared by Noem, she praises President Donald Trump for “securing the border” before telling migrants that “we will hunt you down” for breaking laws.
“Criminals are not welcome in the United States,” Noem says in the ad.
Vendor contracts for the project were awarded to People Who Think LLC, a Louisiana-based company co-founded by Jay Connaughton, one publicly available document shows, and northern Virginia-based Safe America Media LLC, according to a separate document reviewed by Semafor.
Connaughton and People Who Think worked on Trump’s ads during the 2016 campaign. He also worked with Corey Lewandowski — a former Trump campaign manager and longtime MAGA presence who is now a special government employee for DHS — on Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry’s campaign last year.
A DHS spokesperson said “multiple career government officials” oversaw the “competitive procurement process,” adding that the vendors will help deliver “media services” for the ad campaign. Lewandowski was not involved in the process, according to the spokesperson.
“The fact that millions of illegal aliens, including tens of thousands of criminal aliens, are in our country is an urgent threat to the safety of Americans, our homeland, and national security,” the spokesperson said.
The document detailing the contract for People Who Think describes it as being for a “National Emergency at the Southern Border: Multiple Award IDIQ for Stronger Borders, Stronger America Campaign Advertising and Media Support Services.”
It is unclear what percentage of the total $200 million budget over two years will be distributed to vendors, but it’s likely to be far smaller than the cost of airtime and other delivery mechanisms.
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The advertising campaign is slated for what DHS called “hyper-targeted” transmission through social media and text messaging as well as more traditional formats.
It comes as the Trump administration ramps up focus on the border and immigration: Deportation flights began soon after Trump took office, including the transportation of some migrants to Guantanamo Bay, where the administration aims to build more housing for detainees ahead of deportation.
The number of border crossings and the number of migrants who entered the US without being apprehended have dropped substantially since their heights during the Biden administration, Fox News reported.
The $200 million budget for the deportation ads also follow fast-paced efforts by Elon Musk and Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency to cut government programs and personnel. DOGE describes its aim as rooting out fraud and wasteful spending, and has already presided over widespread firings of federal employees as well as contract cancellations.
On Tuesday, DOGE’s website laid claim to $55 billion in cost savings through a combination of contract and lease cancellations or renegotiations, workforce reductions, and more. The now-shuttered US Agency for International Development is the top agency listed for “total contract savings,” and DHS is No. 6 on that list.
Some of the cuts at DHS so far include initiatives focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and online subscriptions to Politico Pro.
Notable
- The Trump administration plans to fire hundreds of DHS staffers in an effort to evict employees who are not aligned with the president’s agenda, NBC News reported.
- Noem recently defended Musk’s access to sensitive information, telling CNN that Trump gave authorization and that it’s “essentially an audit of the federal government.”