The billion-dollar deportation contract awarded under Kristi Noem is in serious jeopardy. Senator Markwayne Mullin’s Department of Homeland Security is now preparing to strip the scandal-hit firm of its work and open the deal to full competition.
Markwayne Mullin is reconsidering the Salus agreement
A report from PunchUp reveals that DHS is on the verge of throwing the Project Homecoming contract open to new bidders, with sources claiming current contractor Salus Worldwide Solutions is “unlikely” to win it back. It aims to salvage a program that one insider described as a “mess” needing to be undone.
Markwayne Mullin‘s re-competition push comes as internal Salus documents expose how close the operation came to financial collapse. A burn-rate dashboard from May projected the firm would run out of money by May 26, with just 13 operational days remaining and daily spending of $2.7 million eating through its remaining $38.85 million.
Despite invoicing over $433 million in roughly a year, the company’s results have fallen dramatically short of promises. Salus had projected 276,000 removals in year one. A December court declaration from a company executive put the real figure far lower. There were just 17,406 completed stipends out of nearly 35,000 authorized.
Furthermore, court records have also revealed how DHS officials rushed the deal through in the first place under Kristi Noem. DHS personnel reportedly shared non-public budget details with Salus before opening the bid window for just two business days. A May court opinion revealed DHS’s own contracting officer and general counsel concluded the dealings had “created an appearance of impropriety.”
Moreover, the contract is now caught up in multiple investigations. House Oversight Democrats and Senators Richard Blumenthal and Peter Welch are seeking records on the role of Corey Lewandowski. He is the former Trump campaign manager who served as Noem’s chief adviser. The DHS Inspector General is separately investigating how officials handled contracts under Noem’s tenure.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.