Kristi Noem Overpaid $48 Million for Empty Warehouse in Last-Minute ICE Detention Spending Spree

One of Kristi Noem's final acts as Secretary of Homeland Security was burning $48 million in taxpayer money on a warehouse she never needed.

According to a new report from The Atlantic, Noem's DHS paid $145.4 million for an empty warehouse in Salt Lake City intended for immigration detention—despite the property being valued by tax assessors at just $97 million. That's a 50% markup over fair market value for a building that may now sit unused after her successor put the brakes on her detention center expansion plans.

The deal closed on March 11, six days after Trump fired Noem but before she officially left office on March 31. Her replacement, Markwayne Mullin, immediately paused plans to convert the Utah warehouse and 10 other properties Noem had purchased as part of a $38 billion overhaul of ICE detention infrastructure.

A Pattern of Overpaying

The Utah warehouse wasn't an isolated mistake. A March report from commercial real estate firm CoStar found that ICE overpaid by an average of 11 to 13 percent above market value for the other 10 properties Noem acquired. The $48 million overpayment on the Salt Lake City building—nearly five times worse than the average—wasn't even included in that analysis.

The spending spree is now the subject of an internal DHS investigation examining acquisitions and contracts approved by Noem and Corey Lewandowski, the Trump confidant who served as her de facto chief of staff despite holding only an unpaid "special government employee" position. Noem and Lewandowski have long been rumored to be having an affair.

The $100,000 Bottleneck

Lewandowski was also the architect behind a policy requiring Noem to personally sign off on any DHS contract exceeding $100,000—a supposed cost-cutting measure that created bureaucratic chaos.

That policy directly contributed to a three-day delay in deploying Urban Search and Rescue teams to Texas after devastating flash floods in July 2025. The disaster killed approximately 135 people. Emergency response teams sat idle while paperwork waited for Noem's signature.

Secretary Mullin has since scrapped the $100,000 approval requirement as part of efforts to "re-evaluate the contract processes" and ensure DHS is "serving the American taxpayer efficiently," according to CBS News.

What Happens Now

A DHS spokesperson told the Daily Beast the agency is "reviewing agency policies and proposals" from the Noem era, adding that Mullin wants to "work with community leaders" and "be good partners"—a stark departure from Noem's approach.

The question now is what happens to the $145 million warehouse and the billions spent on other detention facilities that may never open. Noem's rush to expand ICE detention capacity left taxpayers holding the bag for properties purchased at inflated prices, approved through a bottleneck system that delayed disaster response, and overseen by an unelected political operative with no official authority.

The internal investigation continues, but the damage is already done. Taxpayers are out $48 million on a single building, and 135 Texans died waiting for help that was delayed by red tape designed to prevent wasteful spending. The irony would be funny if it weren't so deadly.