On March 5, 2026, Trump fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem — the first cabinet secretary to lose her post in the second term — after a scandal over a $220 million taxpayer-funded advertising campaign featuring Noem herself on horseback.
The no-bid contracts were awarded to Safe America Media, a company incorporated in Delaware just 8-11 days before receiving a $143 million contract. Most of the money was then subcontracted to the Strategy Group, whose CEO is married to Noem's former spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. A second firm, People Who Think, received $77 million. DHS invoked a national emergency declaration to bypass competitive bidding requirements.
Noem testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that Trump had personally approved the campaign. The White House flatly denied this, with a spokesperson telling NBC News: “POTUS did not sign off on a $220 MILLION dollar ad campaign. Absolutely not.” The contradiction between Noem's sworn testimony and the White House denial triggered her firing.
NBC News also reported that Noem handpicked contractors for a separate $100 million ICE recruitment campaign. DHS's ad budget tripled under Noem's tenure. The scandal compounded existing controversies including Noem's rumored affair with adviser Corey Lewandowski and the deadly shootings of at least four people by ICE agents under her leadership.