From Empty Detention Centers to Ghost Fleets: DHS Waste Demands Oversight

I have written before about fiscal failures at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Recent reporting documents even more staggering waste at ICE's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security. So I ask again, with greater incredulity: Who is minding the till at DHS? The agency squandered $464 million on ten aircraft from Daedalus Aviation Corporation via a no-bid contract under Kristi Noem. Six months after purchase, these planes sit unused at Lake Charles, Louisiana. DHS lacks sufficient crews to operate them. Former acting ICE Director John Sandweg stated bluntly that if asked to list ICE's needs for increased deportations, "buying its own fleet of airplanes would absolutely not make the top ten." Yet DHS proceeded anyway. The arrangement reeks of self-dealing. Daedalus is chaired by William Walters, who donated $10,000 to a PAC supporting Noem. Under her leadership, Walters' companies received over $900 million in contracts. The no-bid arrangement let Daedalus purchase aircraft elsewhere and resell them at substantial markups. The Times documented a Boeing 737 purchased for under $90 million resold to DHS for $108 million. Two Gulfstreams costing Daedalus $83 million were sold to the government for $106 million. Most egregious: two 17-year-old Boeing 737s purchased for $45 million each, when comparable jets typically sell for $15 million to $30 million. One aircraft is astonishing. A luxury Boeing 737 features a stand-up bar, marble showers, and a table covered in manta ray skin—amenities inexplicable for deportations yet suited for executive travel. DHS repainted it in Air Force One livery. Another purchased jet includes electronic bidets and wine chillers. A third is a Gulfstream configured for senior government officials, not deportation flights. The contract expanded by $303 million the day Markwayne Mullin became DHS Secretary in March 2026. Mullin considered rejecting the deal but was dissuaded by White House officials citing financial penalties. Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Chris Murphy rightly demanded a full accounting. This mirrors detention facility waste: empty warehouses and unnecessary capacity payments. The pattern is unmistakable. Before Congress appropriates further DHS funds, will you demand itemized reporting and support independent audits? Will you condition future funding on transparent competition rather than no-bid contracts to politically connected vendors? The American people deserve stewardship of their tax dollars.