You’re Paying Twice for the Migrants

As Republicans work to secure the border, they’re not just up against the inept Biden administration. As Todd Bensman pointed out in these pages, the recent UN Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela lays out a plan to spend $1.6 billion in 17 Latin American countries to help migrants reach the US-Mexico border — and the UN bureaucracy’s ultimate goal.

Namely: “To support access to asylum procedures, migratory regularization activities, and socio-economic integration.” That is: no southern US border and an unimpeded flood of migrants into the United States.

To that end, the United Nations hands out envelopes full of cash or preloaded debit cards to migrants trekking through Latin America, essentially paying migrants to head to the border.

Hmm: Uncle Sam is by far the biggest UN backer, funding 22% of its regular budget. So the cash going into migrants’ hands is coming in no small part from Americans’ pockets.

Taxpayer cash also funds a host of charities and nonprofits (all nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, in UN-speak) that further move the migrant waves. Per the Federation for American Immigration Reform, in fiscal year 2023, the Department of Homeland Security dished out $363.8 million to fund NGOs and state and local governments that help feed, shelter and transport migrants, including almost $13 million for United Way of Southwestern New Mexico and more than $28 million for Catholic Charities.

This helps the Biden administration hide the true cost of illegal immigration, masking it as humanitarian relief. It’d be a huge slap in the face to taxpayers, if they realized they’re funding the mass migration.

Beyond demanding new rules to limit Biden’s ability to keep waving migrants in, Republicans may want to alert the voters to how they’re paying for the exodus on both ends.