The Immigration Industrial Complex: Where Does the Money Go?

The Immigration Industrial Complex (full series)
Woke Immigration Policy | Where Does the Money Go?
Catholic Charities | Global Refuge | Influencing Elections?

---

Where Does the Money Go?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) directs billions in grants through programs to house and transport illegal aliens throughout the country.

The HHS’ Administration for Children and Families directed $1.99 billion through the Refugee and Entrant Assistance State/Replacement Designee Administered Programs grant in 2022 and another $3.78 billion through that program in 2023. As of April 1, 2024, ACF has already funneled $1.35 billion through the program this fiscal year. These numbers represent an over 500 percent increase over the program’s $372 million grants in the last full fiscal year under Trump.

Where does the money go? Between Fiscal Year 2021 and Fiscal Year 2024:

• $1.13 billion went to chapters of Catholic Charities
• $8.3 million went to The North Dakota and South Dakota chapters of Lutheran Social Services
• Nearly $410 million went to The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

The ACF also awards grants for the “Unaccompanied Alien Children Program,” which significantly increased under Biden. ACF awarded $2.9 billion in Fiscal Year 2022 and $3 billion in Fiscal Year 2023, and the agency awarded $1.45 billion so far in Fiscal Year 2024. It awarded $1.75 billion in 2020, the last full fiscal year under Trump.

Between Fiscal Year 2021 and Fiscal Year 2024, this program gave:

• $239 million to Lutheran Social Services
• $209 million to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
• $61 million to various chapters of Catholic Charities
• $386 million to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which rebranded as “Global Refuge” in January 2024
• $76 million to Church World Service

According to HHS, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops received $145.6 million in grants from the Administration of Children and Families and the HHS generally in 2023 alone, mostly for refugee assistance and long-term foster care for unaccompanied alien children.

A Sizeable Chunk of Revenue

These nonprofits receive large portions of their revenue from federal grants.

According to Forbes, Catholic Charities USA received $1.4 billion of its $4.7 billion in revenue from government support, more than the $1 billion it received in private donations, in 2022.

Global Refuge, formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, received $180 million in government grants, more than seven times what it received in “all other contributions,” namely $25 million.

Church World Service received $20.5 million in government grants in the fiscal year ending in June 2022, a sizeable chunk of its $51 million in total assets. It spent $3.8 million on advocacy during that same fiscal year.

HIAS, formerly known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, notes in its report for 2021 that “the most significant source of HIAS’s revenue are grants from the U.S. Government.” HIAS received $37 million from the State Department and $3.9 million from HHS that year, making up 30 percent and 3 percent of its total revenues of $119 million.

The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants reported receiving the vast majority of its revenue ($117.4 million of its $121.7 million) through government grants in 2020.

Where Do the Illegal Aliens Go?

The Immigration Industrial Complex sends illegal aliens across the country, but the true scope of the problem only became clear after a year and a half of the Biden administration.

In 2022, the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project teamed up with the Heritage Border Security and Immigration Center to track how illegal aliens spread throughout the country after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. It proceeded in four phases.

First, the investigation examined 407 cell phone devices at the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Connection and Customs and Border Protection’s Del Rio Station. The investigation tracked those devices to 40 different U.S. states.

The second phase focused on 20 private organizations in Arizona, California, and Texas. The 22,000 unique cell phones detected at those locations made their way to 431 out of the 435 congressional districts worldwide.

The investigation’s third phase involved following 5,000 cell phones detected at 13 organizations along the U.S.-Mexico border. Those devices traveled to 434 congressional districts—all but one in the entire country.

Finally, the investigation focused on Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. During January 2021, the investigation detected nearly 3,400 devices, which it traced to 433 congressional districts.

The border crisis truly is a national crisis, and these organizations are helping to turn every state into a border state.

Open Borders Advocacy

While many Christians and Americans believe it is noble to help refugees and immigrants, these organizations also advocate against policies that would crack down on illegal immigration. Many of them also have ties to the Left’s dark money network.

These nonprofits opposed the vital bill to address the border crisis, H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023.

According to Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), an original cosponsor of the bill, H.R. 2 “addresses the immediate impact of the crisis by focusing on mitigating and stopping the surge of illegal aliens and drugs flowing across the U.S. borders, mainly between ports of entry.”

The bill would require DHS to resume the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, prohibit DHS from processing the entry of non-U.S. nationals arriving between ports of entry, limit asylum eligibility, authorize the removal of illegal aliens to a country other than that person’s nationality, expand the types of crimes that may make aliens ineligible for asylum, impose penalties for overstaying a visa, and require DHS to create an electronic employment eligibility confirmation system modeled after E-Verify.

Heritage Action for America praised H.R. 2 as “the strongest and most consequential border security and immigration enforcement legislation to date.” The advocacy group noted that the bill would “end the inhumane catch and release practices of the Biden administration, prevent the exploitation of unaccompanied alien children, and curb the fraudulent abuse of asylum claims.” The bill also “cuts off funds for non-governmental organizations that are being misused to process and transport illegal aliens into U.S. communities.”

H.R. 2 passed the House of Representatives in a party-line vote of 219-213 on May 11, 2023, but it has yet to receive a hearing in the U.S. Senate.

Each of the organizations receiving government funding to house illegal aliens and transport them into the country opposes H.R. 2.

HIAS

HIAS, formerly known as Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, launched in 1903 to continue the work of previous organizations aiming to assist Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe. HIAS now provides services to “refugees, asylum seekers, and other forcibly displaced and stateless persons around the world and advocates for their fundamental rights,” according to its website.

HIAS does not receive support directly from the Arabella Network, the Tides Foundation, or the Proteus Fund, but it has received $19,500 in grants from the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation between 2020 and 2022. As mentioned in the last chapter, the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, a donor-advised fund spun off from the SEIU-owned Amalgamated Bank in 2017, funds various left-wing advocacy groups.

HIAS condemned H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023.

“HIAS staunchly opposes H.R. 2, and we urge representatives to vote NO on it,” Naomi Steinberg, HIAS vice president of U.S. policy and advocacy, said in a May 2023 statement. “If this bill were to become law, it would essentially end the U.S. asylum system. Among other things, it would eliminate the right to seek asylum for people who enter the U.S. between ports of entry, even though that is a violation of accepted international asylum law.”

HIAS has close ties to the Biden administration. Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of Homeland Security, served as a HIAS board member until Biden nominated him in November 2020.

HIAS President Mark Hetfield has visited the White House seven times under Biden.

---

In the next installment, Catholic Charities claims to have served “more than 15 million of our at-risk neighbors” in 2023.