As the United States heads toward its 2024 election, the architect of Donald Trump’s family separation policy — who could return to a key role if Trump is re-elected — is leveraging border-related misinformation to set the stage for contesting the election results.
Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Trump administration, oversees dark money and charitable organizations that promote misleading narratives about the US-Mexico border — while benefiting financially from that disinformation.
In the lead-up to the November 2024 election, Homan and his “Border911” network have traveled across the country amplifying a conspiracy popularized by Trump on the campaign trail: that Democrats are deliberately allowing undocumented migrants to cross the border in order to vote illegally for the Democratic Party.
Trump has already promised Homan a position in his administration. “If Trump comes back in January, I’ll be on his heels … and I will run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen,” Homan declared in July. “They ain’t seen nothing yet. Wait until 2025.”
Lighthouse Reports, in partnership with the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, the Texas Observer, palabra, and Puente News Collaborative, conducted an extensive investigation into Homan’s nonprofit operations and the people involved.
Border911’s policy agenda reflects the more extreme immigration measures Trump has proposed, including mass deportations and the deployment of troops along the US-Mexico border. The organization has already influenced legislation in Arizona, where several Border911-supported bills have been introduced.
Despite Homan’s law enforcement background, IRS filings suggest that both his foundation and Border911 may be skirting federal tax rules. Experts note that tax-exempt charitable organizations are prohibited from engaging in “any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office.”
At the same time, associates of Border911 are securing high-value border security contracts for themselves or companies that employ them, according to public records.
METHODS
Working with media partners, the investigation relied on interviews with state and federal law enforcement officials, nonprofit and legal experts, and U.S. election specialists. (Homan declined to comment.) Researchers reviewed tax and regulatory filings for Border911, affiliated groups, and team members at state and federal levels, analyzing thousands of pages of public records. Reporters also attended Border911 events and examined hundreds of videos, speeches, and social media posts.
STORYLINES
Before it became an independent nonprofit, Border911 was part of The America Project, founded by figures who promoted the claim that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump, including former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne and retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. Homan served as CEO of The America Project for part of 2023.
“BORDER911 is a team of operators with decades of experience,” Homan wrote on X last November when launching the new nonprofit. “We helped create the most secure border in history. The war on America is going to be won when we band together … The cavalry is on its way … the border is our theater of war.”
The team publicly listed by Border911 includes former federal and state law enforcement officials, some with intelligence backgrounds, such as Rodney Scott, former Border Patrol Chief; Derek Maltz, ex-DEA special agent; Victor Avila, former Homeland Security Investigations agent; Fox News contributor Sara Carter; and Jaeson Jones, former Texas DPS captain and NewsMax correspondent.
Last summer, Maltz and Jones testified before Congress on border issues, presenting themselves as private citizens and former law enforcement. Neither disclosed their Border911 affiliations, private intelligence work, or the $20,000–$30,000 speaking fees they advertise as border experts.
Maltz also did not reveal his executive director role at PenLink, Ltd., a company providing surveillance software used by ICE, DEA, and Texas DPS. The firm has earned more than $250 million in federal government contracts.
Rodney Scott, listed on the Border911 team, started his consulting firm, Honor Consulting Plus, in July 2021 shortly before retiring from federal service. In May 2025, Texas’ Attorney General awarded his firm a $50,000 contract advising on Governor Abbott’s controversial floating buoy barrier on the Rio Grande — part of the multibillion-dollar Operation Lone Star immigration enforcement initiative.