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| Anthony Vazquez /Chicago Sun-Times via AP |
Homeland Security misspent money on its program to pay local nonprofits to welcome illegal immigrants caught and released into the country, according to an inspector general’s report that dinged the department for failing to oversee how the money was spent.
The inspector general said more than 50% of the funds it studied may have been spent improperly.
Known as the humanitarian relief program of the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, the money is paid to nonprofits to conduct COVID testing, provide bus or plane tickets for migrants to go from the border to destinations in the U.S., and assist them with housing and other needs once they arrive.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency runs the program, chairing a national board of nonprofits with the United Way serving as the muscle. The board doles money out to local nonprofits.
The program has grown under the Biden administration amid the border breakdown and record numbers of migrants being caught and released into the U.S.
The board hides its activities, with the United Way referring questions about program spending back to Homeland Security.
The Washington Times filed a Freedom of Information Act request with FEMA for details of the spending last September but has yet to receive any data. --->READ MORE HERE
Nonprofit charity organizations that received more than $100 million from the federal government to feed and house illegal immigrants released from federal custody at the U.S.-Mexico border failed to adhere to the law and abused funding, according to a federal watchdog investigation.
A Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report released this week found organizations that were given Federal Emergency Management Agency money to respond to the border crisis regularly failed to submit receipts with reimbursement requests and used money on illegal immigrants who should not have received taxpayer funds.
Recipients "did not always provide the required receipts or documentation for claimed reimbursements," and "some of the [local recipient organizations] were unable to provide supporting documentation for families and individuals to whom they provided services," according to the inspector general report.
FEMA was awarded $110 million in the American Rescue Plan of 2021 to disperse among nonprofit groups on the border. At the time of the watchdog's audit, $80 million had been awarded to groups in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.
The government watchdog looked at $12.9 million of the awarded money and found "they did not always use the funds consistent with" the guidelines. --->READ MORE HERE
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