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DHS messages show Corey Lewandowski wielded wide authority over immigration enforcement

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Summary

  • Internal DHS emails and Signal messages from March to August 2025 show Corey Lewandowski taking part in sensitive immigration enforcement decisions without an official role.
  • Lewandowski served at DHS from January 2025 to March 2026 as an unpaid special government employee advising then-Secretary Kristi Noem.
  • The messages show officials treating Lewandowski as Noem's equal, giving him high-level briefings and updates on deportations and related legal disputes.
  • American Oversight obtained the records through a Freedom of Information Act request; DHS redacted much of the content, citing provisions on interagency communications.
  • Lewandowski, Noem's representative, and DHS declined to comment or did not respond when asked about the messages.
  • Democrats and some Republicans have previously said Noem outsourced decisions to Lewandowski that should have been the secretary's.

Reactions

  • American Oversight Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said Congress has a duty to investigate and put involved officials under oath.
  • House and Senate Democrats are reported to be homing in on Lewandowski and Noem as targets for investigations when they take control of Congress in January 2027.
  • DHS declined to comment on the messages; Lewandowski declined to comment and a representative for Noem did not respond.
  • Then-DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the messages showed her executing the tasks of her job.

Timeline newest first

  1. Corey Lewandowski served at DHS from January 2025 to March 2026 without an official role, as an unpaid special government employee advising Kristi Noem.

Sources newest first

  • DHS messages back up allegations that Lewandowski operated as shadow secretarypolitico.com· 2d

    A Politico article by Eric Bazail-Eimil reports that internal DHS emails and Signal messages, obtained by American Oversight through a FOIA request, show Corey Lewandowski wielding wide-ranging authority over immigration enforcement as an unpaid special government employee with no official role, including in deportation planning and the Kilmar Ábrego García case, and being treated as Kristi Noem's equal. The article judges the messages to raise new questions about the power Lewandowski exerted on Noem's behalf, and American Oversight's executive director says Congress has a duty to investigate.