On October 2, the second day of the government shutdown, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived at Mount Rushmore to shoot a television ad sitting on horseback in chaps and a cowboy hat. Her stern message for immigrants: "Break our laws, we'll punish you."

ProPublica reports that the $220 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign bypassed normal competitive bidding by invoking the "national emergency" at the border.

The main contract recipient listed publicly is a mysterious Delaware company called Safe America Media, created just days before a $143 million deal was finalized. The company lists its address as the Virginia home of Republican operative Michael McElwain, whose own firm reported just five employees when it received COVID relief money. 10

But DHS kept one beneficiary sec

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