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ICE Barbie Dealt Humiliating Insult by Fierce Rival

A trip to Puerto Rico has exposed an awkward new twist in one of the Trump administration’s bitterest feuds.

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Border czar Tom Homan is rubbing salt in Kristi Noem’s wounds by using the same luxury jet fleet that landed his bitter rival in hot water before Donald Trump fired her.

Homan, 64, appears to have flown to Puerto Rico last week aboard a $53 million Gulfstream purchased toward the end of March when Noem, 54, was still serving as Homeland Security Secretary, according to PunchUp, the Daily Beast’s sister Substack.

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Homan and Noem’s feud was so vicious that they barely spoke to one another as their rival factions warred behind the scenes over contracts, immigration operations, and who got to call the shots at DHS.

A Gulfstream G650, tail number N472US, flew from Washington’s Reagan National Airport to San Juan last Tuesday, according to flight-tracking data. The jet departed the island for West Palm Beach the following day.

Homeland Security Investigations in San Juan published photographs from Homan’s visit during the same timeframe, including two showing him stepping off a business jet with the same livery and a third showing a partially visible tail number that appears to match the Gulfstream.

It comes after Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Chris Murphy disclosed in August that DHS planned to assign one of the two newly purchased G650s to Homan and other officials. The other had already been leased to the FBI for Director Kash Patel’s travel.

The lawmakers condemned what they described as an “in-house private jet service” for administration bigwigs.

The two Gulfstreams were among five aircraft bought from controversial contractor Daedalus Aviation for $304 million on March 24, Noem’s final day leading the department. Each $53 million Gulfstream carried a markup of more than $11 million over its previous purchase price, according to Senate Democrats.

Noem was already facing serious heat over her department’s expensive taste in aircraft after DHS splashed roughly $200 million on a pair of Gulfstream G700s in October 2025 and leased a luxurious Boeing 737 for her to use, complete with a bedroom, showers, and a bar.

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Things between her and Homan came to a head in January after two American citizens were killed during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, with Trump, 80, sending Homan to take charge of the operation in what was widely regarded as a reprimand of Noem.

Trump then fired Noem on March 5 after two disastrous congressional grillings over a string of scandals during her tenure, including her use of the luxury Boeing 737 to jet about the country with her chief adviser and rumored lover, Corey Lewandowski, 53.

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She remained formally in office until her replacement, Secretary Markwayne Mullin, 49, was sworn in on March 24.

PunchUp contacted DHS and the White House for comment on this story.

“For operational security and the safety of officials, we would never confirm the location of an airplane,” a DHS spokesperson said. “Government aircraft is used for senior leadership consistent with applicable legal requirements and policies. Reasons include the need for secure communications, security, and exceptional scheduling requirements.”

White House spokesperson Lauren Bis added that Homan had been in Puerto Rico “to do assessments of immigration and maritime border security efforts. White House official travel arrangements are determined by established processes and security procedures.”

Tom Latchem exposes the secrets, scandals, and stories that powerful people and institutions want to keep under wraps. Follow all of his reporting at PunchUp on Substack.

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