HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) — Two powerful Republican congressmen are questioning non-governmental organizations nationwide what assistance they gave immigrants during the Biden administration.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, of Tennessee, and House Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Accountability Chairman Josh Brecheen, of Oklahoma, this week sent letters to over 200 NGOs to specify the services they provided for migrants who crossed the border from 2021 through January before President Donald Trump took office.
They say they are probing whether the NGOs improperly used taxpayer funds to facilitate illegal activity.
They have been asked to fill out a survey that asks what government grants, contracts and disbursements they received. They also want to know if they have sued the federal government or filed supporting documents in lawsuits against the U.S. government, as well as translation transportation, housing, and shelter services they gave migrants.
“The federal government outsourced a much greater share of its migrant response to NGOs, increasing NGO revenues while placing the burden of the Biden Administration’s policies on American taxpayers,” the letter says. “The Biden Administration’s reliance on NGOs therefore created a pull factor by signaling to those who arrived illegally or without proper documentation that they could expect such assistance, all expensed to American taxpayers, once they arrived in the United States.”
Nonprofits questioned include:
- Catholic Charities USA
- Council on American-Islamic Relations
- Haitian Bridge Alliance
- U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
- The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights-Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
- Global Refuge
- Southwest Key Programs
- Endeavors
- Make the Road New York
In Tuesday’s letter to CHIRLA, they say U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers encountered 10.9 million “inadmissible aliens” including 500,000 unaccompanied children. And they note a financial increase in the revenue of NGOs as more migrants crossed the border into the United States.
They cite that three NGOs in 2019 had a combined revenue of $597 million, and that increased to $2 billion in 2022. They did not specify the NGOs.
Southwest Key Programs had gross receipts of $897 million, and CHIRLA had gross receipts of $44.8 million, and the Haitian Bridge Alliance had gross receipts of $3.4 million, according to the latest data in Guide Star.
“The Committee remains deeply concerned that NGOs that receive U.S. taxpayer dollars benefitted from the border crisis,” they wrote. “The Committee is concerned that these NGOs used U.S. taxpayer money to enable the Biden border crisis by incentivizing and facilitating illegal immigration, placing our homeland security at risk and encouraging unprecedented levels of human trafficking and smuggling.”
The nonprofits have until June 24 to answer the survey. “Failure to comply with this request may result in the Committee pursuing further measures,” they wrote.
Border Report reached out to several NGOs and asked if they had received a letter, though none in the Rio Grande Valley had.
But several nonprofits that assist migrants in Texas already are the subject of a probe by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who says he wants to investigate whether they illegally aided immigrants.
Several nonprofits participated Wednesday in a virtual call with reporters focusing on what they called “government oversight” by the Trump administration for sending the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles to stop protesters who are pushing back against raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
When asked about these letters, Janet Murguia, president and CEO of Unidos US told Border Report, “It is an effort to try to intimidate organizations, nonprofits who are fully compliant with 501c3 standards, into not offering support to those who are eligible for it. And there’s going to be an effort to weaponize and politicize the very supports that are essential and helpful and perfectly legal.”
She accuses Republicans of going after “nonprofits who don’t agree with their political agenda. And this is again another threat to our democracy.”
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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