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Panel witnesses urge Congress to probe NGO spending on migrant services and warn against replacing statutory watchdogs
Summary
Witnesses at the House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing urged congressional investigations into billions in NGO funding related to migrant support, described evidence of misconduct, and warned that recent removals of inspectors general and the rise of the Department of Government Efficiency risk undermining independent oversight.
A second panel of witnesses told the House Homeland Security subcommittee that nonprofits played a central role in sheltering and moving migrants through the United States and urged Congress to use its investigative powers to trace federal funding and hold organizations accountable. Witnesses also warned that the dismissal of multiple inspectors general and creation of a new Department of Government Efficiency, described at the hearing as “Doge,” pose risks to independent oversight.
Mike Howell (introduced at the hearing as the executive director of the Oversight Project at the Heritage Foundation) and other outside witnesses testified that a network of nongovernmental organizations and UN agencies received billions of dollars to help shelter and move migrants. Howell told the committee that, based on his organization’s tracking work, “they gave them almost $6,000,000,000 to a conglomerate of UN agencies and over 200 NGOs,” and that a cell-phone tracking sample of 30,000 devices showed migrants were moved into nearly every congressional district.
Curtis Schubert, executive director of Council to Modernize Governance, told the committee that DHS agencies including CISA had funded nonprofits involved in online content moderation and that the Center for Internet Security had received grants he characterized as significant. Schubert said CISA and other DHS components had at times funded external groups to identify and flag content that some government actors sought to limit, describing it as a risk to free speech and noting legal and policy concerns.
John Roth, former inspector general at DHS, told members that inspector general offices deliver substantial taxpayer benefits and that removing IGs undermines oversight. “Firing the inspector generals was a disempowering act,” Roth said. He told the committee IG offices locate operational problems, protect whistleblowers and have the institutional knowledge needed to target audits; he warned that replacing those structures with ad hoc entities would lack the same rigor.
Andrew Block, senior counsel at America First Legal, urged oversight of parole programs and border policies he described as misuse of statutory parole authority. He said the CBP One app and other parole programs were used in ways that, he said, exceeded the authority Congress intended; Block told the committee that “according to Secretary Noem, more than 1,000,000 people entered the country this way,” a figure he attributed to a public official he cited in testimony.
Several members urged subpoenas and documentary requests to trace how federal funds flowed to external organizations. Witnesses said Congress should use its subpoena power and not rely solely on inspector general offices that they described as having not pursued the financial trail in prior years. The committee kept the record open for 10 days and asked several witnesses to provide written follow-ups.
