Rep. Michael Guest, chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, opened a committee hearing to address the role non-governmental organizations (NGOs) played in the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the border crisis. He criticized the use of taxpayer funds by these organizations to aid illegal immigration.
“For four years, the Biden-Harris administration created the worst border crisis in American history,” said Rep. Guest. He argued that their policies led to 13 million inadmissible aliens either being encountered at U.S. borders or entering undetected.
The hearing titled “An Inside Job: How NGOs Facilitated the Biden Border Crisis” aimed to highlight how federal funding enabled NGOs to assist in processing and releasing illegal immigrants into U.S. communities.
Guest noted that NGOs received significant taxpayer funding through programs like DHS’s Emergency Food and Shelter Humanitarian Program (EFSP-H), later known as the Shelter and Services Program. These funds were used for various services for individuals released from DHS custody, often bypassing ICE detention facilities.
“Our taxpayer dollars were spent on purchasing tens of thousands of nights in hotel rooms for illegal aliens,” Guest stated, adding that this was part of what he described as a larger scheme involving cartels’ human smuggling operations.
Jason Owens, former chief of the Border Patrol’s Del Rio Sector, explained how ICE transferred individuals to NGOs for further travel arrangements within the U.S., contributing to widespread distribution across congressional districts.
Reports indicated that some NGOs misused funds intended for other purposes, with corruption and waste highlighted by audits revealing improper documentation and spending on legally ineligible recipients.
“The Biden border crisis proved to be a profitable business model for NGOs,” said Guest, citing increased revenue among several large organizations handling unaccompanied alien children. Some groups reportedly used federal grants predominantly as their revenue source while allegedly obstructing transparency efforts regarding fund allocation.
Rep. Guest concluded by emphasizing accountability and calling for an end to using public money to facilitate illegal activities at the border: “We cannot let taxpayer dollars be used to facilitate lawbreaking.”
