Salus hires ethics-tainted former New York IT chief for Trump deportation program

Salus Worldwide Solutions, the firm overseeing the Trump administration’s Project Homecoming self-deportation program, quietly added Rajiv Rao to its senior staff despite his recent ethics settlement in New York. Rao, who resigned from a $161,000 state position after an inspector-general probe, admitted to violating state ethics law by failing to disclose lobbying contacts and a conflict of interest involving his son’s employment.

He was fined $5,500 and settled with the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government. Salus did not notify the Department of Homeland Security, citing that federal acquisition rules only require disclosure of federal criminal matters. As chief information officer, Rao now oversees the technology handling personal data of hundreds of thousands of migrants on a contract valued at up to $915 million. Procurement scholars argue the nondisclosure runs counter to the purpose of integrity rules, and DHS said it could not comment while the contract is being re-competed, with GEO Group and CSI Aviation among likely bidders.