The Substack Popular Information mentioned this payment in a Monday article, which focused on the fact that ICE spending in the “small arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories manufacturing” product category increased by 700 percent between 2024 and 2025. (Spending increased by about 636 percent, per WIRED’s analysis of the same category and time periods Popular Information measured.) Word of the payment also circulated on Tuesday after a post on BlueSky by Democratic Wisconsin state senator Chris Larson went viral.