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Daily Caller

Bureaucrats Breathed Life Into Biden’s Border Crisis With Mountains Of Taxpayer Cash

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Jason Hopkins

President Donald Trump has shut off the funding spigot to Biden-era initiatives and charity organizations that quietly carved out “fast-track” pathways for migrants to enter the American homeland.

On his first day back in the White House, the Republican president signed an executive order that placed a funding freeze on development assistance to foreign countries and the involved nonprofit organizations, arguing that such funding needs to be better aligned with U.S. foreign policy interests. That order had a monumental impact on one major nonprofit, in particular, and also a migration initiative created by the previous administration.

Launched in 2023 by President Joe Biden, the Safe Mobility Initiative established numerous brick-and-mortar buildings across Latin America, known as Safe Mobility Offices (SMOs), that allowed asylum seekers to apply to enter the U.S. This $80 million program proved to be incredibly popular with migrants, with a House Judiciary report finding that more than a quarter million migrants were allowed to register for potential entry into the U.S. within the first 15 months of the initiative.

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House Judiciary Republicans investigating the Safe Mobility Initiative in 2024 argued it was specifically designed to “fast-track” migrants into the U.S., providing them a new pathway into the country without having to add to the chaotic scenes taking place at the southern border. The program paid foreign national employees millions to help coach migrants on how to reach the interior of the U.S.

 The initiative continued allowing thousands of migrants to resettle into the U.S. — until day one of the Trump administration.

“Following a decision by the US government, the Safe Mobility Initiative is no longer active,” reads a notice on the front-page of the program’s website, which also notes that no new applications will be accepted and for those already referred for resettlement to standby for further updates.

The Biden administration opened the first SMOs in June 2023 and continued to expand with new locations throughout Central and South America. These processing centers, working in coordination with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), allowed foreign nationals the opportunity to apply to migrate legally into the U.S.

However, critics of the initiative began pointing out that the Biden administration was simply creating an expedited run-around for more migrants to enter the U.S.

“Under President Biden, the State Department has announced its Safe Mobility Offices initiative, which allows illegal aliens to bypass the southwest border and, according to UNHCR, ‘avoid the risks associated with onward movement,’” House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan wrote to UNHCR in June 2024. “In other words, this new program fast-tracks aliens into the United States out of sight of the American people and without public transparency of the chaos at the border.”

A Mixed Migration Centre survey released in March 2024 showed 90% of SMO users wanted to reach the U.S. for economic opportunities — rather than fleeing persecution or war, which is the purpose of the refugee resettlement system.

The House Judiciary Committee later eviscerated the initiative in a report published in the waning days of the Biden administration, confirming that the program was spending millions of American taxpayer dollars to help thousands of migrants in Central and South America enter the U.S.

American taxpayers funded SMOs in 13 different cities across Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Costa Rica, according to the House report. More than 18,000 migrants from South and Central America departed for resettlement in the U.S. via the Safe Mobility Initiative, with roughly 67,000 total foreign nationals referred to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for possible resettlement into the country.

U.S. taxpayers altogether spent more than $80 million funding SMOs, with this funding being split between the UNHCR and the IOM, according to the Judiciary Committee. The committee additionally confirmed that SMO staffers would also counsel migrants previously deemed ineligible to enter the U.S. as refugees on other strategies to make it into the country.

“Only 14 percent of IOM employees devoted to the Safe Mobility Initiative are U.S. citizens, however, meaning that the Biden-Harris Administration uses U.S. taxpayer dollars to pay foreign national employees of the United Nations to counsel other foreign nationals on the best ways to enter the United States,” the report stated.

Biden launched the initiative in the middle of what the worst year on record for unlawful border encounters. His administration made other attempts to quell the sky-high levels of illegal immigration by creating alternate avenues for otherwise-inadmissible migrants to enter the U.S., such as the CHNV program and the dramatic expansion of the CBP One app.

The Trump administration also took an axe to the non-profits accused of fomenting the illegal immigration crisis. The president’s order freezing foreign assistance came to the chagrin of organizations like Catholic Charities USA, which have long been accused of enabling illegal immigration.

“Today we are announcing that we have stopped all grant funding that’s being abused by NGOs to facilitate illegal immigration into this country,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced in January. “So it’s amazing to me the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been spent by the federal government that has been sent to NGOs to facilitate this invasion of our country.”

“I think people are curious when we look at grants that are given out by federal agencies at how they’re utilized, and that evaluation needs to be done,” Noem added.
“We’re not spending another dime to help the destruction of this country.”

Catholic Charities USA and its affiliate organizations have been heavily involved in facilitating immigration and refugee resettlement into the U.S. over the years — with the help of the American taxpayer. From 2023-2024, the group and its affiliates received more than $5 million in federal grants, according to Catholic Culture.

Catholic Charities Southern Ohio, for example, partners with the State Department for Refugee Resettlement, with one of its main sources of revenue being government fees and grants. The group in January 2024 opened a facility providing legal advocacy and other immigration services in Springfield, Ohio, a town so inundated with Haitian migrants that local leaders begged the federal government for assistance.

Catholic Charities Archdiocese of San Antonio received millions in federal funding in 2024 to provide migrant services, largely through its Migrant Resource Center located near the southern border. The organization, however, was blasted by lawmakers in Washington, D.C., for allegedly using taxpayer money to cover the cost of airline tickets for migrants.

When asked by the Daily Caller if the president intended to permanently cut funding to organizations like Catholic Charities that have helped bring illegal migrants into the U.S., White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said she was “quite certain” Trump’s executive order did just that.

Catholic Charities USA President and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson begged the administration in a public statement to reconsider its funding freeze, claiming that its work provides essential services. The organization did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“For more than a century, the Catholic Charities network has worked with the government to care for poor and vulnerable people in every community in the U.S., and we continue to be eager to work with government to care for our neighbors in need,” Robinson wrote in January. “We strongly urge the administration to rethink this decision.”

Trump’s decision to freeze foreign assistance spending has put a stop to other seemingly-frivolous spending on migrant services. A Lebanese gender specialist was just about to launch a U.S.-funded program providing mental health services to LBGTQ Venezuelan youths living in Colombia, but was told the initiative was defunded just as she arrived in Bogota, according to The Associated Press.

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‘Time To Make The Patient Better’: JD Vance Says ‘Big Transition’ Coming To American Economic Policy

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JD Vance on “Rob Schmitt Tonight” discussing tariff results

 

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Hailey Gomez

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday on Newsmax that he believes Americans will “reap the benefits” of the economy as the Trump administration makes a “big transition” on tariffs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,679.39 points on Thursday, just a day after President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs against nations charging imports from the U.S. On “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” Schmitt asked Vance about the stock market hit, asking how the White House felt about the “Liberation Day” move.

“We’re feeling good. Look, I frankly thought in some ways it could be worse in the markets, because this is a big transition. You saw what the President said earlier today. It’s like a patient who was very sick,” Vance said. “We did the operation, and now it’s time to make the patient better. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We have to remember that for 40 years, we’ve been doing this for 40 years.”

“American economic policy has rewarded people who ship jobs overseas. It’s taxed our workers. It’s made our supply chains more brittle, and it’s made our country less prosperous, less free and less secure,” Vance added.

Vance recalled that one of his children had been sick and needed antibiotics that were not made in the United States. The Vice President called it a “ridiculous thing” that some medicines invented in the country are no longer manufactured domestically.

“That’s fundamentally what this is about. The national security of manufacturing and making the things that we need, from steel to pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, and so forth, but also the good jobs that come along when you have economic policies that reward investing in America, rather than investing in foreign countries,” Vance said.

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With a baseline 10% tariff placed on an estimated 60 countries, higher tariffs were applied to nations like China and Israel. For example, China, which has a 67% tariff on U.S. goods, will now face a 34% tariff from the U.S., while Israel, which has a 33% tariff, will face a 17% U.S. tariff.

“One bad day in the stock market, compared to what President Trump said earlier today, and I think he’s right about this. We’re going to have a booming stock market for a long time because we’re reinvesting in the United States of America. More importantly than that, of course, the people in Wall Street have done well,” Vance said.

“We want them to do well. But we care the most about American workers and about American small businesses, and they’re the ones who are really going to benefit from these policies,” Vance said.

The number of factories in the U.S., Vance said, has declined, adding that “millions of workers” have lost their jobs.

“My town [Middletown, Ohio], where you had 10,000 great American steel workers, and my town was one of the lucky ones, now probably has 1,500 steel workers in that factory because you had economic policies that rewarded shipping our jobs to China instead of investing in American workers,” Vance said. “President Trump ran on changing it. He promised he would change it, and now he has. I think Americans are going to reap the benefits.”

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2025 Federal Election

‘I’m Cautiously Optimistic’: Doug Ford Strongly Recommends Canada ‘Not To Retaliate’ Against Trump’s Tariffs

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Jason Cohen

Ontario Premier Doug Ford urged Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to avoid retaliation against the tariffs President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday.

Trump announced in the White House Rose Garden that he would impose “a minimum baseline tariff of 10%” on all goods entering the United States, with Canada not being included on the list of countries with higher rates. When asked about what Canada’s response would be on “Bloomberg: Balance of Power,” Ford said he was “cautiously optimistic” about Canada’s omission from the higher-tier tariffs and emphasized the importance of a cooperative relationship with the U.S.

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“Well, let’s see where these tariffs go. I’m cautiously optimistic that I never saw Canada or Mexico on that list. And it just goes to show you two great countries working together, collaborating together and building relationships,” Ford said. “So again, I’m cautiously optimistic. I think if that’s the case, it’s the right thing for both the U.S and Canada.”

Host Kailey Leinz noted that there are currently tariffs on Canada in place as well as an exemption for goods that are in compliance with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

“Does that mean, sir, at least in your mind, that it wouldn’t be appropriate for Canada to retaliate for this at this time?” Leinz asked.

“That is correct. If that’s the case, then I would highly recommend to the prime minister not to retaliate. And let’s carry on a strong relationship,” Ford answered. “Let’s build the American-Canadian fortress around both countries and be the wealthiest, most prosperous, safest two countries in the world.”

Trump declared a national emergency to levy a slew of reciprocal tariffs on what he has deemed “Liberation Day.”

“My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day, April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again,” Trump said.

The president also announced that he would proceed with implementing a 25% tariff on “all foreign-made automobiles” that will take effect at midnight.

Ford in March had imposed a 25% surcharge on electricity to New York, Michigan and Minnesota, but promptly rescinded the policy and apologized to Americans on WABC’s “Cats & Cosby” radio show the following day. The tariffs were a retaliatory measure against Trump’s flurry of tariffs against Canada since starting his second term.

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