Kristi Noem Approved $1 Billion Border Deal for Company Once Accused of Smuggling Workers and Handing Them Guns

A billion-dollar border wall deal is raising serious questions about who got the green light from the Department of Homeland Security. Kristi Noem approved major border wall contracts for Texas-based construction firm SLSCO Ltd., even though the company had previously been accused in court of smuggling workers across the U.S.-Mexico border and arming some of them as guards. According to reporting from The Daily Beast, the Department of Homeland Security awarded SLSCO two contracts totaling roughly $1 billion to build sections of the border wall in Laredo and Del Rio, Texas.

The company also holds a separate contract to construct the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility in Florida. SLSCO previously secured nearly $2 billion in border wall contracts during the first Trump administration, which further deepened its ties to federal immigration infrastructure projects.

However, past legal filings brought serious allegations into the spotlight. Two former SLSCO security contractors, a former FBI special agent, and a former San Diego sheriff’s deputy filed a lawsuit accusing the company of “human and weapons smuggling” across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The lawsuit claimed the contractors began working for the company in 2019 and soon discovered migrants allegedly working at SLSCO construction sites in Southern California without legal authorization. They also reported seeing Mexican nationals carrying firearms while working as security guards at the sites.

According to the complaint, tensions escalated in July 2019 when those guards reportedly exchanged gunfire with another group of migrants who were attempting to steal equipment from a construction site.

The contractors said they raised the concerns with supervisors. However, they claimed the company failed to act.

The former FBI agent later reported the alleged smuggling and shootout to federal authorities. Shortly after that report, both contractors said they were fired, which they alleged was retaliation.

The lawsuit was eventually dismissed voluntarily by the plaintiffs before reaching court proceedings. SLSCO has not publicly commented on the allegations, according to The Daily Beast.