Tom Homan’s former associate is working with companies hoping to win contracts for a massive immigration enforcement plan.<a href="[link removed]><img src="[link removed]" alt="" border="0" /></a>

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The Big Story
October 01, 2025 · View in browser <[link removed]>

In today’s newsletter: How some companies are hoping to cash in <[link removed]> on Trump’s mass detention and deportation plans; legislatures across the country reject accountability reforms <[link removed]>; Noem campaign donor intervenes <[link removed]> to get disaster funds for a Florida pier; and more from our newsroom.

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Trading on Tom Homan: Inside the Push to Cash in on the Trump Administration’s Deportation Campaign <[link removed]>

A Pennsylvania businessman who had Tom Homan on his payroll led companies to believe his connections to the future border czar could help advance their bids for government work, industry executives said.

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Local Reporting Network

 
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Lawmakers Across the Country This Year Blocked Ethics Reforms Meant to Increase Public Trust

Government accountability and transparency? These are motivating words for ProPublica reporters. But a wide range of legislation we reviewed in partnership with many of our Local Reporting Network newsrooms shows that 2025 brought a weakening of ethics regulations in statehouses across the country.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers tried to push through bills to tighten gift limits, toughen conflict-of-interest provisions and expand financial disclosure reporting requirements. While legislation strengthening ethics oversight did pass in some places, our reporting found, we also revealed that time and again, bills were derailed in committee, on the floor of state legislatures or, in a few cases, by a governor’s veto.

Why does it matter? Because elected officials are supposed to be accountable to the people they serve. Our reporting shows the dismantling of that notion by lawmakers across multiple states.

Read story <[link removed]>

 
That Stat

 
$11 million

The amount of federal money Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem expedited to rebuild a historic pier in Naples, Florida. The pier was damaged by Hurricane Ian in 2022.

Frustrated city officials had been laboring for months, without success, to get disaster assistance for the pier through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Then, one of Noem’s big donors intervened. Just two weeks later, money was on the way, records obtained by ProPublica show.

A Homeland Security spokesperson told ProPublica, “This has nothing to do with politics: Secretary Noem also visited Ruidoso, NM” — where floods killed three people in July — “at the request of a Democrat governor and has been integral in supporting and speeding up their recovery efforts.” She did not answer questions about the donor’s role in expediting the funding or Noem’s relationship with him.

Read story <[link removed]>

 
More from the newsroom

 

Lawmakers Across the Country This Year Blocked Ethics Reforms Meant to Increase Public Trust <[link removed]>

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An American Friend: The Trump-Appointed Diplomat Accused of Shielding El Salvador’s President From Law Enforcement <[link removed]>

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Millions Could Lose Housing Aid Under Trump Plan <[link removed]>

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Arduous and Unequal: The Fight to Get FEMA Housing Assistance After Helene <[link removed]>

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This Family Will Return Home After Helene. Their Onerous Journey to Rebuild Shows Why Many Others Won’t. <[link removed]>

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