DHS defends ad blitz amid Senate scrutiny, says campaign drove 2.2M self-deportations and saved taxpayers $39B

By Fox News · Fox News

EXCLUSIVE: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deputy assistant secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital that DHS’s international ad campaign prompted more than 2.2 million illegal immigrants to self-deport and saved taxpayers more than $39 billion, pushing back on Democratic lawmakers who criticized the roughly $200 million initiative during a heated Senate hearing on Tuesday. During a hearing Tuesday, Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., along with Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., quizzed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem about the lucrative contract for an ad campaign she was featured in, which was awarded to a company where the husband of her former spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, works. However, Bis said the campaign, filmed in October at Mount Rushmore, was well worth the cost and resulted in millions of self-deportations and billions of taxpayer dollars saved. "Sanctuary politicians are attacking this ad campaign because it has been successful in CLOSING our borders and getting more than 2.2 million illegal aliens to LEAVE the U.S.," Bis said. "The DHS domestic and international ad campaign was the most successful ad campaign in U.S. history. The results speak for themselves: 2.2 million illegal aliens self-deported, and we now have the most secure border in American history." TRUMP UNLOADS ON ‘RADICAL LEFT’ AS HE STANDS BY KRISTI NOEM AMID IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT UNREST Bis added that on average, an arrest and removal by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) costs U.S. taxpayers $18,000. "Even with the costs of advertising and [U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)] $2,600 exit bonus, self-deportations are 70% cheaper than a forced ICE removal," she said. "This ad campaign saved the U.S. taxpayers over $39 billion." DHS clarified that not all self-deportees took the exit bonus when they fled the country. DHS SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM ADDRESSES CALLS FOR HER FIRING, NEW ALEX PRETTI VIDEO At the start of 2023, the net cost the U.S. incurred from ille…