Watchdog organization Open the Books revealed that the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) under the Department of Health and Human Services distributed $10 billion to migrants in fiscal year 2023.
Since 2020, the ORR spent more than $22.6 billion on grants to nonprofits aiding migrants.
Open the Books recorded the awards as follows:
- 2020: $2,682,493,224.22
- 2021: $2,352,120,351.54
- 2022: $3,378,055,499.50
- 2023: $10,035,487,466.68
- 2024: $4,207,541,746.00
One ORR program helped migrants “save for car and home purchases,” while another “gave out business and personal loans to help them build credit,” the watchdog explained. Another program provided “legal assistance,” “cultural orientation,” and “emergency housing support.”
ORR’s mission is to “promote the health, well-being, and stability of refugees, unaccompanied alien children, and other eligible individuals and families, through culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and strengths-based services,” its website states. “Our vision is for all new arrivals to be welcomed with equitable, high-quality services and resources so they can maximize their potential.”
Border Czar Tom Homan believes there may be as many as 300,000 unaccompanied migrant children present in the United States.
Dozens of GOP members of Congress condemned the former Biden administration for its handling of the hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied children entering the United States. The letter, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), claims the Biden administration “[cut] back on information sharing between HHS ORR and law enforcement related to unaccompanied children and sponsors,” while also stripping Customs and Border Protection officials of their “ability to conduct familial DNA testing,” making smuggling and trafficking children “much easier.”
“HHS must stop its cover-up and cooperate with law enforcement and Congress to end this crisis and protect unaccompanied children and the American people,” the letter states.
