Border911
Ahead of the US election, the architect of Trump’s family separation policy – slated to return to office if Trump is re-elected – is using border disinformation to lay the groundwork for challenging the election results.
Tom Homan, the retired acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Trump administration, runs dark money and charity organisations that are spreading propaganda about the US-Mexico border – and profiting from border disinformation.
Ahead of the US election in November 2024, Homan and his “Border911” team have crisscrossed the United States promoting the conspiracy touted by Donald Trump on the campaign trail – that Democrats have opened up the border with Mexico to undocumented migrants so they can illegally vote in the election for the Democratic party.
Trump has already pledged to give Homan, the architect of his family separation initiative, a role in his administration. “Trump comes back in January, I’ll be on his heels … and I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen,” Homan vowed in July. “They ain’t seen shit yet. Wait until 2025.”
In collaboration with the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, the Texas Observer, palabra and Puente News Collaborative, Lighthouse Reports took a deep dive into the activities of Homan’s non-profit groups and their members.
Border911’s policy agenda foreshadows Trump’s most extreme immigration proposals, which include mass deportations and deploying troops to the US-Mexico border. The nonprofit has already had an impact in Arizona, where several Border911-backed bills have been introduced.
Despite his background in law enforcement, IRS filings show that Homan’s foundation and his Border911 dark money organization may be skirting federal tax law, according to tax documents and interviews with experts, that prohibits tax-exempt charitable organizations from participating in “any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office.”
Meanwhile, Border911 associates are securing lucrative border security contracts for themselves or for-profit companies that employ them, documents show.
METHODS
With our media partners, we conducted dozens of interviews with state and federal law enforcement, nonprofit and legal experts, in addition to experts on U.S. elections. (Homan declined to be interviewed for the story). We dug into tax and regulatory filings by Border911, associated organisations and team members at federal and state levels, analysing thousands of pages of public records. We attended Border911 events and reviewed hundreds of videos, speeches, and social media posts for the investigation.
STORYLINES
Before it became its own foundation, Border911 was part of The America Project, an organization founded by prominent advocates of the conspiracy that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Donald Trump: former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne and Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, Trump’s disgraced former national security advisor. For part of 2023, Homan served as CEO of The America Project.
“BORDER911 is a team of operators with decades of experience,” Homan posted on X last November, announcing the launch of the new Border911 nonprofit. “We helped create the most secure border in history. The war on America is going to be won when we band together. … The cavalry is on its way. … The border is our theater of war.”
Homan’s cavalry, who are publicly featured as team members, includes former state and federal law enforcement, some of whom have intelligence backgrounds, including Rodney Scott, former Border Patrol Chief; Derek Maltz, a former Drug Enforcement Agency special agent; Victor Avila, a former agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Sara Carter, a Fox News contributor; and Jaeson Jones, a former Texas Department of Public Safety captain turned NewsMax correspondent, according to public records and the Border911 Foundation’s website.
Last summer, Maltz, the former DEA special agent, and Jones, the former DPS captain, testified before a congressional committee about the border, identifying themselves only as private citizens and former law enforcement. Jones didn’t mention his Border911 public relations role, his private intelligence company, or the $20,000-30,000 speaker fees he advertises that he charges as a border expert.
Maltz did not disclose his Border911 speaker role or his job with a firm that has earned more than $250 million in federal government security contracts. Maltz is the executive director of government relations for PenLink, Ltd., a tech firm that sells surveillance tools to law enforcement, including software that can track cell phones without a warrant. The tech has been purchased by ICE, the DEA, and Texas DPS, among other agencies.
Rodney Scott, the ex-Border Patrol chief listed on the Border911 team, founded a consulting firm in July 2021—about a month before retiring from the federal government. In May, the Texas Attorney General’s office granted Scott’s firm, Honor Consulting Plus, a $50,000 contract to advise on the state’s lawsuit defending Governor Abbott’s contentious floating buoy barrier on the Rio Grande, part of the governor’s multibillion-dollar militarized immigration enforcement initiative called Operation Lone Star.