Overview
- Outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem personally signed off on two DHS contracts totaling about $1 billion for SLSCO Ltd. to build wall segments near Laredo and Del Rio, Texas, according to The Daily Beast.
- SLSCO was accused in a lawsuit by two former security contractors of bringing Mexican nationals into the U.S. to work and arming them to serve as guards at border construction sites.
- The plaintiffs, described as an ex-FBI special agent and a former San Diego sheriff’s deputy, alleged they witnessed a 2019 shootout involving the armed guards and later reported the incidents to superiors and the FBI.
- Both contractors said they were fired after raising concerns and framed their dismissals as retaliation, but the case was voluntarily dismissed before going to trial.
- SLSCO has not publicly addressed the allegations, and the report notes Noem has exercised personal approval for DHS deals exceeding $100,000.