Illegal migrants in 431 of 435 congressional districts: Heritage Foundation
Heritage Foundation’s Mike Howell and Lora Ries on the fate of Title 42 and recent analysis that found illegal migrants in all 50 states
Illegal immigrants who crossed the border in 2022 have been tracked in 431 of the 435 U.S. congressional districts, according to new analysis by the Heritage Foundation.
The study released by the think tank's Oversight Project and Border Security and Immigration Center examined the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) located along the border and in border states. The data found that NGOs are responsible for facilitating the transport of thousands of migrants into the interior of the U.S.
The findings were obtained with a sampling of approximately 30,000 anonymized cell phones that were geofenced to several NGOs in border states, according to the Heritage Foundation report. In one phase of the study, geofencing tracked approximately 22,000 devices at 20 NGO locations in January 2022. The same devices were later traced to 431 separate U.S. congressional districts.
NUMBER OF ILLEGAL MIGRANTS WHO ENTERED US SINCE BIDEN TOOK OFFICE APPROACHING TWO MILLION
Immigration is at the top of the ticket this November as a record number of illegal immigrants continue to cross the border. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Of the 52 congressional districts with the highest rate of tracked devices, 71% were Republican congressional districts, the report revealed.
Mike Howell, director of the Oversight Project and former DHS oversight counsel, described the operation as a "mass resettlement program in which the Biden administration works hand-in-hand with NGOs."
Howell told Fox News that he was "shocked" at the findings of the investigation, accusing NGOs of exacerbating the border crisis by dispersing immigrants across U.S. communities.
"We were so shocked at that finding, we read multiple phases of this study, and we kept replicating the same finding," he said Tuesday on "America Reports." "Even in one instance where we geofenced a specific Catholic charity's NGO, we found virtually every single congressional district had an illegal alien sent there – and this is just a couple of hundred illegal aliens that were at this location."
"They play a huge role…the Biden administration would not be able to process this crisis without the help of NGOs. They are mission-critical to the border crisis," he told Fox News host John Roberts.
The Heritage Foundation memo said the investigation is "proof that Biden’s border crisis has turned every state into a border state."
Migrants stand across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. Thousands of migrants have illegally crossed into the city in recent days, prompting concerns from city officials. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wants nongovernmental organizations investigated over their role is assisting migrants to illegally cross the border. (Border Patrol)
The assessment comes as a group of House Republicans, led by Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, called on three NGOs that work with migrants to preserve documents and communications related to their operations, accusing the NGOs of "violating federal law and regulation, placing migrants and American communities at risk, and subjecting local communities to unreasonable burdens."
Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, said she hopes the assessment will motivate Congress to stop funding NGO transport operations.
"Occasionally, you’ll see video of a plane releasing illegal aliens in the middle of the night in Tennessee or New York. But what this study shows is, they are not only going to every state, but every congressional district in every state. And so members of Congress need to see this to realize this, and to do something about it to secure the border," she said during the Fox News interview.
While the role of NGOs in aiding migrants who have crossed the southern border predates the Biden administration, their role has come under greater scrutiny amid a historic surge at the southern border, which saw more than 2.3 million migrant encounters in FY 2022 alone.
FOX NEWS FOOTAGE SHOWS MASS RELEASE OF MIGRANTS INTO US, AS NUMBERS HIT 500,000 FOR FY 23
Migrants encountered at the southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas, Oct. 19, 2022. (Fox News)
So far, FY 2023 is on track to exceed that number, and there are fears of an even greater surge once Title 42 ends in the coming days. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the expiration of the Trump-era law, which DHS predicts could lead to up to 14,000 migrant crossings a day, will require even greater cooperation with NGOs.
"The numbers [will] get worse at the border and these NGOs get more money to process them in faster throughout the U.S," Ries warned. "So when members of Congress are asking where is the plan Joe Biden, this is the plan. We are living the plan, and we have been for the past 23 months. They are doing what they said they would do and so Congress needs to stop funding these operations that this administration is carrying out."
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Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this month announced that he is calling on the state attorney general’s office to "investigate the role non-governmental organizations may have played in planning & assisting illegal crossings into Texas."
Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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