Trump ads draw scrutiny over use of border agency funds

President Donald Trump’s administration used money intended for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to pay for television ads promoting him, an administration official and a senior Republican senator told NBC News. The spending has drawn objections from both parties and demands from Democratic lawmakers for an accounting of the funds.

The White House calls the ads public service announcements. In a statement to The Wall Street Journal quoted by Talking Points Memo, it said they were meant to remind Americans “to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad.” The spots carry a disclaimer saying they were “paid for by the U.S. government.”

One ad closely follows a Trump campaign spot from 2024. It shows him walking down a hallway while his voiceover calls on supporters to join a “final battle” to “demolish the deep state” and “expel the warmongers from our government.” Another features Trump saying he wants to “defeat communism,” NBC News reported. Lawyers for the musician JMSN sent the White House a cease-and-desist letter Monday over its use of his song “Love Me” in that ad, according to NBC News.

The political ad-tracking firm AdImpact estimates that the administration has spent more than $1.7 million to run the ads, NBC News reported. That figure measures ad spending, not the total amount of CBP funding at issue.

Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the top Democratic appropriators in the Senate, said in a letter Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that $20 million had been shifted from funds allocated to CBP in a Republican-backed law passed in 2025. The senators said the money had been intended for “commemorative events relating to border security,” according to Talking Points Memo. They demanded that the ads be taken off the air and sought answers about the arrangement.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also said the money came from CBP funding in that law. Her committee had no role in the spending, she told reporters Tuesday. Spending bills that fund the government typically restrict transfers between accounts, Collins said, but the administration used an account established under the separate law.

“That’s why the administration went around the appropriations process and used an account that was part of the reconciliation bill,” Collins said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, praised the message in the latest ad but objected to its funding. “It’s a great message. I like the message,” he said Monday, “but it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, accused Trump of making Americans pay for what he called “propaganda.”

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Trump could have used political resources to run an ad with a political message. “If it were, you know, some clear message that was going to appeal to the broader, a real public service announcement, that’s fine,” Tillis said. “But that was not that.”

The Department of Homeland Security referred NBC News’ request for comment to the White House, which did not immediately respond.