'Connections That Raise Serious Red Flags': Dale Strong Slams NGO Involvement In Immigration

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In a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Dale Strong (R-AL) asked experts about NGOs.

Transcript

00:00Point I would recognize. Mr. Strong for five minutes.

00:03Thank you, Chairman Guest. To our witnesses, I want to apologize to each of you. I know that

00:09y'all have walked into a spitwad fight here, and I thank each of you for being here before us today.

00:15The American people deserve details, accountability, and especially when it comes to their taxpayer

00:21dollars, they deserve answers. You think about it, in recent years, far too much federal funding

00:28has gone to NGOs with little oversight, questionable practices, and in some cases, connections that

00:34raise serious red flags. In 2021, ICE awarded an $86 million no-bid contract to Endeavors for hotel

00:43stays for illegal immigrants. Mr. Howell, could you broadly talk about the risk to border security

00:50and accountability when the federal government outsources key functions to non-government

00:56organizations? Absolutely. There's a clear break in the paper trail and accountability. Once the

01:02money leaves DHS, there's little in the way of reporting requirements as to how it's spent,

01:06how it's maintained, where the illegals go, and all sorts of other standards that relate to condition.

01:11For example, in these nonprofit facilities, not much in the way of licensing requirements or living

01:17standards are there. Yet, you have all this attention on ICE facilities for quite the opposite

01:23reasons. It's a vastly different ecosystem. In his testimony, Mr. Rosen noted that certain

01:31non-government organizations were present during the recent unrest in Los Angeles, and many have

01:36played a role in obstructing federal operations. Mr. Howell, has your team identified any instances

01:43where federally funded non-government organizations appear to be aligned with political advocacy groups

01:49or campaigns in ways that could raise concerns about conflicts of interest or inappropriate

01:54influence? Absolutely. I think the most recent former Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas,

02:00who was impeached coming from Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, is an example of how this whole system

02:05works and the very cozy relationship between the nonprofits and governmental actors. As it relates to

02:12the violence we see in the streets, the foot soldiers and organizers, I would say, are one degree

02:17removed away from those receiving government funds, you know, the giant organizations like Catholic

02:22Charities and others, who do a lot more in terms of public advocacy. It's a very complex ecosystem,

02:28all pushing in the same direction. Turning to Ms. Hopper, DHS OIG previously found that nearly 60%

02:35of certain emergency food and shelter programs reimburses lacked adequate receipts, didn't turn in

02:42receipts. Does this suggest a pattern of gross financial mismanagement or potential fraud among

02:49NGOs receiving DHS grants? It absolutely does. When you're unable to provide receipts and we have

02:57firsthand accounts of facilities serving rice and beans and charging the U.S. government a steak and

03:04lobster diet, that's a problem. Ms. Hopper, in your view, how did the federal government's emphasis

03:11on rapid placement over thorough screening create opportunities for traffickers to exploit the

03:21unaccompanied alien children program? They absolutely did. We interviewed incarcerated cartel

03:27members that knew when this administration took over that they were not going to have access to the

03:32same pipelines and taxpayer dollars that they had access to before. They know that when unaccompanied

03:38children came in, they would provide the name number and address of the sponsor, cartel controlled,

03:43so that the child could be put to work to pay off the debt that they owed their smuggler or trafficker.

03:49Ms. Hopper, beyond the serious risk of exploitation and trafficking, there are growing concerns that some

03:55unaccompanied alien children may be vulnerable to recruitment by violent gangs like MS-13 or Trenda Agra.

04:02Is that something that has come up in your investigations and research?

04:08It absolutely has. With the open borders, we had numerous transnational criminal organizations,

04:14criminal networks, bad actors come into this country, and with them, they are looking for recruits.

04:20And so when you have young teenagers looking for, they have food instability, housing instability,

04:26and they have a debt to pay off, they are going to pay that off by working with cartel members.

04:32Thank you. To close out my time, one issue that has been raised by state local law enforcement is the

04:38lack of communication by NGOs as they facilitate the movement and settlement of these aliens in local

04:44communities. Keeping law enforcement out of the loop creates public safety concerns and likewise does a

04:51disservice to the settlement of migrants. For any of our witnesses, can you speak to why these NGOs

04:58were encouraged not to work with local law enforcement and some of the downstream implications of these poor

05:05policies?

05:05It's because that would have gotten in the way of moving as many illegal aliens around the country as

05:11humanly possible, which was completely the opposite of the goal of the Biden administration and the NGOs.

05:17That's why they don't cooperate. They didn't cooperate because they didn't have to cooperate.

05:23Contractually, they weren't required to, and so they didn't. I concur with my fellow witnesses.

05:30Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes Mr. Magus.

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