Noem personally chose contractors for $100 million ICE recruitment

NBC News reports that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem handpicked contractors to lead a $100 million campaign to recruit Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers instead of allowing competitive bidding for the jobs, according to three administration officials and internal communications reviewed by NBC News. The selection, the reporting says, sidestepped procurement norms and left procurement staff sidelined.

Typically, multiple companies are allowed to bid and procurement officials, not department leaders, decide based on who can do the best job for the lowest price. NBC’s reporting attributes the deviation to Noem’s personal selections and states that the acting ICE Director Todd Lyons’ office was not involved in choosing the contractors, according to the three officials who spoke with the reporter.

Internal communications reviewed by NBC and interviews with administration officials describe an August confrontation that illustrates the dispute. Then-ICE deputy chief of staff Madison Sheahan, in messages cited by NBC, told an ICE employee the award was “a decision made by the secretary.” An administration official who heard the exchange recounted that Sheahan called the employee to her office and “yelled at” him for suggesting a cheaper contractor; three administration officials said the employee subsequently acquiesced and agreed to award the contracts to the firms Noem favored.

DHS has disputed the characterization of the procurement process. A DHS spokesperson told NBC, “Decisions about the ICE recruitment campaign contract were made by the ICE Director’s office. This was the most efficient option to quickly turn around recruitment campaign to get patriotic Americans to sign up to help us remove murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members from our communities.” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told other outlets the campaign was “wildly successful” and “under budget and ahead of schedule,” and supplied outcome figures that DHS attributes to the effort.

According to DHS statements quoted by media, ICE received more than 220,000 applications in five months and issued more than 18,000 tentative job offers; DHS said more than 85 percent of new hires have previous law enforcement experience. DHS also emphasized that new hires meet “the same rigorous standards” as other officers and that recruits complete a virtual Deportation Officer Training Program plus in-person firearm and tactical training at local field offices.

Reporting by the Washington Post, summarized in The Independent, provides additional detail on how the campaign was marketed. A WaPo internal document cited in that coverage described a targeted strategy to reach military enthusiasts, gun rights supporters, people interested in physical training, and conservative audiences through television, radio, web browsers, streaming services, in-person sporting events, country radio, NASCAR, ads near military bases, and online fitness influencers. The campaign, rolled out in the late fall, aimed to hire 10,000 new ICE officers and advertised incentives including signing bonuses of $50,000, generous benefits, and student loan forgiveness.

The competing accounts present a stark choice between an internal procurement process described by NBC and an official DHS framing that credits ICE leadership and cites strong recruitment metrics. Key documents remain missing from the public record: the names of contractors awarded the work, procurement justifications and award records, and the internal communications NBC reviewed. Resolving whether procurement rules were lawfully bypassed will require access to those records and direct answers from Noem, the ICE directorate, and procurement officials.