Tom Homan, the White House border czar, became entangled in an FBI sting last year after an associate of his suggested to undercover FBI agents that Homan could facilitate future government contracts in exchange for big money, according to four sources familiar with the investigation and a government document.
Julian “Jace” Calderas, a former U.S. immigration official who worked under Homan in the Obama administration, allegedly proposed to the agents — who were posing as businessmen — that Homan, in exchange for $1 million, could help them win lucrative federal contracts if Donald Trump became president again, according to an internal Justice Department document describing the investigation reviewed by MSNBC.
Calderas, co-owner of a detention services and government contracting firm in Texas, first allegedly proposed the scheme in May 2023. He held several subsequent conversations with the agents about his cash-for-contracts proposal, culminating in a Sept. 20, 2024, meeting in Dallas at which agents recorded Homan accepting $50,000 in cash, according to the document and sources.
At that same meeting, the document shows, Calderas accepted $10,000 from the undercover FBI agents. His alleged proposal to undercover FBI agents, which had not been previously reported, led to a full-blown Justice Department investigation of Homan, who at the time was a private consultant helping clients obtain government contracts.
A former ICE officer and associate of the White House border czar sparked a full-blown criminal investigation of Homan after he proposed a contracts-for-money scheme to undercover FBI agents.
“I know nothing about this,” Calderas told MSNBC by phone last Monday when asked if he was aware of the criminal investigation and his alleged role in it. “If this is the case, I’m going to need to talk to my lawyer.”
Calderas then ended the call. He did not answer whether he had accepted $10,000 or whether he remembered such a meeting with Homan in Texas. He did not respond to follow-up messages or emails seeking comment from him or his lawyer. MSNBC reached out directly to Calderas and to his company, XFed Global, which he founded with fellow former officials from the Department of Homeland Security, according to the firm’s web site.
The White House has criticized the investigation as a politically motivated inquiry started under the Biden administration. Homan said during an interview on Fox News last Monday that he did nothing wrong, but he did not address whether he accepted the $50,000.
On Thursday, the White House dismissed the significance of internal investigative accounts describing Calderas’ role in allegedly suggesting that Homan could influence future contracts in exchange for payment. A spokesperson said the revelations did not change the White House’s view that Homan was unfairly targeted.
“This changes nothing,” White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said in a statement to MSNBC. She called the now-shuttered federal criminal probe a “blatantly political investigation, which found no evidence of illegal activity” and one she said was driven by Biden Justice Department appointees “to target President Trump’s allies.”
The Justice Department referred questions to the FBI, which declined to comment. Jackson said that Homan “has not been involved with any contract award decisions” and that he is a “doing a phenomenal job on behalf of President Trump and the country.”
Calderas’ role in the Homan investigation, which multiple sources described on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, runs counter to the Trump administration’s narrative since MSNBC published its initial exclusive story this month that the FBI had been investigating Homan for possible bribery.
MSNBC also reported that the investigation stalled after Trump became president for a second time in January. His political appointees at the FBI and Justice Department shut down the case last month.
FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in an unusual joint statement, said FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors “found no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing” by Homan and that “as a result, the investigation has been closed.”
Last Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters from her podium in the briefing room: “Mr. Homan never took the $50,000 that you’re referring to, so you should get your facts straight.”
Yet Homan, during the Fox News interview, did not specifically deny accepting the cash. “I did nothing criminal. I did nothing illegal. It’s hit piece after hit piece after hit piece,” he said.
Sources familiar with the probe told MSNBC that the FBI felt duty-bound to begin investigating Homan after Calderas told agents in an unrelated investigation that Homan was willing to influence which companies would win federal contracts in a second Trump administration in exchange for money.
In the fall of 2024, Homan was running his own consulting firm to help contractors win border-related contracts and publicly touting that he would serve in a senior role carrying out Trump’s promised mass deportations if the GOP candidate won the election. Calderas, a former border agent and Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, could stand to benefit from his longstanding ties to Homan as CEO of the San Antonio-based XFed. Launched in 2016, the company promotes its status as a veteran- and minority-owned business with “insider perspective” on Department of Homeland Security procurement, a lure for prospective clients seeking government contracts. The company web site of an associate of Tom Homan who proposed a cash-for-contracts scheme to undercover FBI agents, boasts that the firm’s “operational expertise, regulatory knowledge, and small business agility makes us the ideal partner for organizations seeking to excel in the federal contracting arena.” “Our leadership team brings unparalleled expertise from senior executive positions within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection,” its web site reads. “This insider perspective, combined with decades of operational experience managing billion-dollar federal contracts, positions XFed Global as the definitive partner for complex government contracting challenges.” The site says those who partner or seek to consult with XFed will gain “competitive advantages” in large-scale contracts. “XFed Global’s unique combination of operational expertise, regulatory knowledge, and small business agility makes us the ideal partner for organizations seeking to excel in the federal contracting arena,” it reads. That Calderas attended the meeting at which Homan allegedly accepted $50,000 in exchange for offering to facilitate future government contracts would have been an important factor for prosecutors. A conspiracy charge requires that more than one person enter into a corrupt agreement, and undercover federal agents can’t be part of a conspiracy. Calderas retired from Immigration and Customs Enforcement as deputy field office director in San Antonio in 2016, when Homan worked in senior ICE leadership as executive assistant director of enforcement and removal operations. Calderas has expressed support for Homan in public comments and on social media. And Homan served as an advisor to Calderas’ company. In 2019, Calderas publicly praised Homan on a LinkedIn profile bearing his name for “speaking truth to power” at a House Oversight hearing on the U.S. border. That LinkedIn account, which detailed Calderas’ work experience and promoted XFed Global’s services, was deleted at some point after MSNBC contacted him and his lawyer last week about the contractor’s role in the federal criminal investigation of Homan. Two years later, on the same LinkedIn page, a posting under Calderas’ name said: “Tom doing a great job of speaking truth to power! We need more of this.” On his company’s Facebook account, which remained active on Monday afternoon, Calderas posted on March 30, 2017: “My retired badge arrived today. This is the badge I wore from the time DHS was created in 2003 after 9/11.” He added, “If these badges could talk they would tell some incredible stories.” It featured a photo of a hand holding a small blue plaque containing a “retired ICE officer” badge with three lines underneath it: “Julian ‘Jace’ Calderas. Deputy Field Office Director. 30 Years Service To Country.”
Ken Dilanian is the justice and intelligence correspondent for MS NOW.
Carol Leonnig is a senior investigative reporter with MS NOW. Recommended
