They Say the System’s Broken. It’s Working Exactly as Designed.
What Kristi Noem’s $220 million border ad scandal and Donald Trump’s latest immigration reversal tell us about cruelty, control, and who really benefits from a “broken” system.
Last week, while much of the country was focused on war, elections, and shutdown chaos, two immigration stories broke that seemed—at first—like political noise. One came from the Department of Homeland Security, the other from the White House. Together, they cut to the heart of something much bigger.
On November 13th, ProPublica dropped a detailed exposé revealing that under Kristi Noem’s leadership, the Department of Homeland Security awarded a no-bid, $220 million contract to a brand-new shell company called Safe America Media. The company had been formed just days before the deal, and nearly all of the funds were funneled to a GOP-linked ad firm tied to Noem’s political network.
The purpose of the campaign? According to DHS, it was to “deter illegal immigration.” According to the ad itself—shot at Mount Rushmore with Noem in cowboy boots and leather chaps—the message was simpler: “You cross the border illegally, we’ll find you.”
Obtained by ProPublica
This wasn’t a public information campaign. It was a performance, a $220 million taxpayer-funded spectacle built not for migrants, but for the American camera, crafted to evoke fear, toughness, and the image of a leader who knows how to “secure the border.” The details—no competitive bidding, unclear subcontracting, personal ties between DHS officials and vendors—were damning enough. But the message behind it all was even more corrosive.
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The Sudden Love for Visas
Just days earlier, President Trump went on Fox News and said, in so many words, that the United States needs more immigration. Specifically, he cited the need for more visas for skilled workers. “You don’t have the talent,” he told host Brian Kilmeade, referring to American workers. “You don’t have certain talents.”
It was a remarkable pivot for a president who spent his first term, and much of his political rise, promising to shut down the border, slash legal immigration, and root out what he called “job-stealing” foreigners. He has spent a large portion of the last eleven months increasing ICE raids and attacking higher education for permitting entry to foreign students.
Earlier this fall, his administration also made it harder and more expensive for companies to sponsor immigrant labor, raising H-1B visa fees to over $100,000 in some cases, slashing approvals, and embedding suspicion into every application review. The policy began with visas filed on or after September 21, 2025.
None of that came up in the interview, nor did Trump explain how, after years of gutting public education, blocking job-training programs, and pushing anti-union policies, the American workforce was ever supposed to be fit for the jobs he wants filled. He didn’t reverse his position on higher or public education to create a qualified American workforce.
Instead, he laid the groundwork for a familiar pattern: elevate immigration when it benefits corporations, and vilify it when it doesn’t. When industry needs it, immigration is suddenly a “strategic necessity.”
It’s not hypocrisy, but rather hierarchy.
The System Isn’t Broken. It’s Rigged
These two stories aren’t contradictions. They’re complementary. One is about cruelty dressed as deterrence. The other is about economic exploitation dressed as pragmatism. Yet both tell the same story: the American immigration system isn’t failing. It’s functioning exactly as intended, so long as you understand its real purpose.
It is not to ensure order or to protect the border, but to control the flow of people based on how useful they are to the powerful, and to punish those who aren’t.
It’s no accident that we spend billions on border walls, detention centers, and armed patrols, while immigration courts remain underfunded, asylum officers are stretched to the brink, and wait times stretch into years. It’s no accident that we build tent cities in deserts and swamps, but not legal infrastructure. And it’s no accident that when migrants do make it into the system, they face dehumanization, indefinite detention, or deportation to third countries with active humanitarian crises.
We make the system brutal on purpose. Then we use that brutality as proof that harsher measures are needed, all while quietly carving out exceptions for those who can make someone rich.
As for addressing the root causes of mass migration or making the immigration system more efficient, neither was ever on the agenda.
Up vs. Down, Not Left vs. Right
This isn’t just about Trump or Noem. It’s not just about Republicans, either. Cruelty toward immigrants has been a bipartisan tradition. Bill Clinton built detention infrastructure. George W. Bush expanded it. Barack Obama deported more people than any president in history. Joe Biden largely kept the Trump 1.0-era asylum restrictions intact.
But under Trump2.0—and now Noem— the cruelty has been made explicit. They’re not trying to hide it behind bureaucratic language or procedural nuance. They’re turning it into political theater.
And that’s the real story: the border crisis, like so many other crises, isn’t a technical failure. It’s a moral smokescreen, a way to distract working people from the forces that actually shape their lives—corporate consolidation, wage stagnation, wealth extraction. While Americans fight each other over who “deserves” to be here, billionaires quietly reshape the economy to their liking.
That’s not Left versus Right. That’s Up versus Down.
The End Game
So when Trump admits we need immigrants, even as he pushes for mass deportation, he’s not confused. He’s just telling you that the system isn’t about law. It’s about leverage. When Noem spends $220 million on a shell company ad campaign instead of hiring immigration judges, she’s not being reckless. She’s broadcasting what this is really about: power, image, and control.
This system doesn’t need to be fixed. It needs to be reimagined.
Because when cruelty becomes consistent, when dysfunction becomes predictable, when division becomes profitable, what you’re seeing isn’t a broken machine.
You’re seeing one that’s working just fine.
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Sources:
“Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts,” ProPublica, November 13, 2025.
“Bombshell Report Claims ICE Barbie’s Friend Cashed in on ‘Corrupt’ $200M Secret Deal,” The Daily Beast, November 13, 2025.
“Trump defends H-1B visas: 'You don’t have certain talents' in the U.S.” Axios, November 12, 2025.
“MAGA Melts Down Over Trump’s Insult to American Workers,” The Daily Beast, November 13, 2025.
“Update: H-1B Visa Fee Increase,” Cornell University Global Learning Office, October 21, 2025.
No surprises in this one except the absurd ad campaign. Supposedly we are a nation of "citizens" not immigrants and it's all about the money. Sickening.
„This system doesn’t need to be fixed. It needs to be reimagined.“
I totally agree. And that means actually a system change.