The U.S. Department of Homeland Security skipped a completely aggressive bidding course of to offer two Republican-linked companies the primary a part of a $200 million tv advert marketing campaign that lauds President Donald Trump for his crackdown on unlawful immigration.
DHS instructed information retailers final month that it had undergone a “aggressive procurement course of” for the marketing campaign. However in a doc posted Friday on a federal database, the division mentioned Trump’s declaration of a nationwide emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border constitutes “an uncommon and compelling urgency,” a circumstance that permits federal companies to bypass the same old aggressive course of.
The advertisements function Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem in a blue swimsuit standing with a backdrop of American flags thanking Trump. The advertisements have caught some consideration as they combine campaign-style photos of Trump signing government orders and flying on Air Pressure One with clips of enormous teams of migrants crossing the Rio Grande and police vehicles with sirens blaring.
Noem warns immigrants to depart the U.S. or to not come. “If you’re right here illegally, we’ll discover you and deport you. You’ll by no means return,” she says in one of many movies.
One of many successful companies is Individuals Who Assume, LLC, which is owned by Jay Connaughton, a Louisiana-based political guide who served as media adviser for Trump’s 2016 marketing campaign. Connaughton appeared to have labored as lately as October 2023 with former Trump marketing campaign supervisor Corey Lewandowski within the marketing campaign of Jeff Landry, for governor of Louisiana. Lewandowski, a longtime Noem adviser going again to her tenure as South Dakota governor, talked about him in a publish on X as a part of the group that helped elect Landry.
The opposite agency chosen for the contract was Secure America Media, LLC, which was integrated in Delaware a couple of days earlier than the solicitation with an handle to a property owned by Republican guide Mike McElwain. Secure America Media has already been awarded $16 million for the advert purchase.
Connaughton and McElwain didn’t reply to messages and calls in search of remark. DHS nonetheless referred to as it a “aggressive course of” in a press release offered to The Related Press.
“Following a aggressive course of with a number of firms competing to ship the most effective service, product, and worth for American taxpayers, Secure America Media and Individuals Who Assume each earned a shared contract for this focused nationwide and worldwide marketing campaign,” it mentioned. “A number of profession authorities officers oversaw this aggressive procurement course of.”
The doc posted on a federal contracting database reads partly: “DHS requires an instantaneous home and worldwide marketing campaign to direct unlawful aliens inside the U.S. and its territories to depart instantly, and to discourage unlawful immigration into the nation.”
DHS reviewed trade publications and distributors specializing on hyper-targeted media and promoting companies and narrowed its search all the way down to 4 firms that had been capable of work instantly.
“Any delay in offering these vital communications to the general public will enhance the unfold of misinformation,” the doc says.
Noem shared the story behind the advert marketing campaign on the Conservative Political Motion Convention final month. She mentioned she had prompt conducting extra information conferences to maintain the general public posted on its immigration actions, however Trump requested for these advertisements “to ensure the American individuals know the reality of what you’re doing.”
“However he mentioned, ‘I need the primary advert, I need you to thank me. I need you to thank me for closing the border.’ I mentioned, ‘Sure, sir. I’ll thanks for closing the border.’”
Many of the cash spent to this point in airing the advertisements has been on English-language TV stations with greater than $2 million, in comparison with the $360,000 spent to air them in Spanish-language stations across the nation, knowledge from ad-tracking agency AdImpact exhibits.
The info exhibits it has aired probably the most in TV stations in Phoenix, Boston, Los Angeles, New York and Dallas. It has additionally been tracked working on Fox Information in bigger markets, with most airings captured within the Washington and Philadelphia areas.
___ Related Press author Byron Tau in Washington contributed to this report.
