DEPORTATION DISASTER

Trump Admin’s Crisis-Hit Firm Ditched in $2B Humiliation

Salus Worldwide Solutions is no longer running the Trump administration’s flagship self-deportation program after a slew of corruption allegations.

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The Department of Homeland Security has dumped a Trump administration crony after months of corruption allegations over his deal to run its flagship self-deportation scheme. DHS awarded the contract for part two of its Project Homecoming program to Virginia-based firm Response AI Solutions on Wednesday, according to PunchUp, the Daily Beast’s sister Substack. The company will take over the scheme from Salus Worldwide Solutions, receiving up to $2.062 billion over the next three years to remove migrants who choose to leave the country rather than face deportation. PunchUp has spent months chronicling Salus, founded by 60-year-old former State Department surgeon William Walters III, including how DHS threw the deal back out for competition after choosing not to exercise the full three years of its contract. That decision followed claims Salus landed the deal through a rigged contracting process and scrutiny over how much of its initial $915 million budget it burned through while delivering questionable results. Salus has denied any allegations of wrongdoing and said it landed the work through a process that “was fair, legal, without political interference, and competitive.”

Tom Latchem exposes the secrets, scandals, and stories that powerful people and institutions want to keep under wraps. Follow all of his reporting at PunchUp on Substack.