WASHINGTON D.C. — This week, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) and Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability Chairman Josh Brecheen (R-OK) launched a probe into more than 200 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that were involved in providing services or support to inadmissible aliens during the Biden-Harris administration’s historic border crisis.

The chairmen are examining whether these NGOs used taxpayer dollars to facilitate illegal activity, as the previous administration incentivized millions of inadmissible aliens to cross our borders––many of whom were subsequently aided by NGOs after being released at the border under the Biden-Harris administration’s mass catch-and-release policies. Most recently, one recipient of the letter, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), has been linked to the far-left, anti-law enforcement riots in Los Angeles. Another recipient of the letter, Southwest Key Programs, received more than $3 billion under the previous administration to provide services, including the transportation and housing of unaccompanied alien children. Read the full letter to CHIRLA here.

In the letter, the chairmen request each NGO complete a survey that includes questions on the government grants, contracts, and disbursements they have received; any lawsuits against the U.S. federal government they are petitioning; amicus briefs they have filed in any lawsuit brought against the U.S. federal government; any legal service, translation service, transportation, housing, sheltering, or any other form of assistance provided to illegal immigrants or unaccompanied alien children since January 2021; and more. 

Read more in the New York Post via Josh Christenson.

In each letter, the chairmen write, “To respond to unprecedented surges of illegal immigrants between January 20, 2021, and January 20, 2025, 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. Under the Biden Administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funneled billions of dollars to NGOs to provide material support, including transportation, translation services, and housing, to illegal aliens throughout the United States. 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.”
 
The chairmen continue, “Meanwhile, these same NGOs saw their annual revenues rise significantly. For example, it was reported that three prominent NGOs that assisted illegal aliens made a combined $597 million in revenue in 2019, while in 2022 those NGOs enjoyed a combined revenue of $2 billion. Further, the Committee is concerned that some of these NGOs may currently be actively advising and training illegal aliens on strategies to avoid cooperation with immigration officials. An undercover video recently exposed one NGO, which receives 55 percent of its revenue from federal and state government grants, for training illegal aliens to avoid or potentially impede immigration officials.”
 
The chairmen conclude, “The Committee is also deeply troubled by the near-total lack of accountability for how these dollars are being spent by NGOs. In March 2023, the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) reported an audit of how NGOs spent millions of dollars received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Ultimately, the government watchdog could not account for more than half of the funding it had audited, due to lack of proper documentation by these groups.”
A few of the NGOs that received this letter:

• Catholic Charities USA
• Council on American-Islamic Relations
• Haitian Bridge Alliance
• U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
• The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
• Global Refuge
• Southwest Key Programs
• Endeavors
• Make the Road New York

BACKGROUND:

The Committee’s Phase One report into the Biden-Harris administration’s border crisis, published in July 2023, found that from the early days of the crisis in 2021 to the end of the previous administration, DHS released inadmissible aliens to a vast network of NGOs, particularly those located at the border, who then provided logistical support to inadmissible aliens. These groups received billions of taxpayer dollars from DHS to provide all manner of services to illegal aliens once they were released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, including food, lodging, and transportation to the destination of their choice. In 2022, ICE told Fox News that it was transporting these individuals “to airports and transit hubs, and coordinat[ing] with non-governmental organizations to provide migrants with shelter, food, clothing and transport.”

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) left no doubt about the federal government’s collaboration with NGOs at the Southwest border, per a report issued April 19, 2023. In the study, the GAO notes, “When releasing these noncitizens into the U.S., DHS components such as CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may coordinate with nonprofit organizations that provide services such as food, shelter, and transportation.” One groundbreaking study in 2022 used mobile-device data to show that NGOs are serving as a launching pad for illegal aliens to disperse throughout the country.

In April, Chairmen Green and Brecheen sent a letter to the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) in response to a video reportedly showing employees of the NGO––which has been awarded over $1 million in taxpayer funding since 2022—advising illegal aliens on how to evade apprehension by ICE. The NGO has allegedly received funding from Chinese government-backed entities that are linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to new reports.

In March, Chairmen Green and Brecheen were joined by Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology Chairman Dale Strong (R-AL) in sending letters to the mayors of New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, investigating whether federal funds were given to entities engaged in or facilitating illegal activities during the Biden-Harris administration’s historic border crisis. The Committee suspects that funds awarded, obligated, or distributed under the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) helped incentivize illegal immigration. 

In October 2023, Chairman Green and then-Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability Dan Bishop sent two letters documenting the Committee’s deepening investigation into suspicious contracts awarded by ICE that were facilitated by ICE official Claire Trickler-McNulty and her former colleague, Andrew Lorenzen-Strait. 

In August 2023, Lorenzen-Strait admitted in an undercover video that he used his previous connections with former President Joe Biden’s 2020 transition team to help facilitate sole-source, no-bid contracts to the non-profit group Endeavors—for which Lorenzen-Strait went to work in January 2021 as senior director for migrant services and federal affairs—to provide services to illegal aliens. Despite having no experience as lead contractor for such shelter services, Endeavors ultimately received more than $600 million in contracts from DHS and HHS. Lorenzen-Strait later left the organization in September 2022. 

Trickler-McNulty was the ICE official in charge of approving or terminating contracts involving new alien detention facilities and Alternatives to Detention (ATD) programs, and she has prior professional relationships with anti-enforcement groups. The chairmen demanded answers from Mr. Lorenzen-Strait and were joined by then-Chairman of the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement Clay Higgins (R-LA) in demanding answers from then-Acting ICE Director Patrick J. Lechleitner on the concerning reports of impropriety and suspected anti-enforcement bias at senior levels in the agency.

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