HHS Splurged More Than $22B on Grants for Migrants

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ramped up grants for migrants from 2020 to 2024 — which included cash assistance to buy cars, homes and even build credit for startup businesses, according to a shocking watchdog report that found taxpayers were left on the hook for $22.6 billion.

HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) — which came under fire last year for having lost track of 32,000 migrant kids in the US — handed out the high sum to a host of nonprofits, effectively acting as a “giant magnet” for those crossing the US border and claiming asylum, auditors from the money monitor OpenTheBooks revealed exclusively to The Post.

Tasked with settling migrants, asylum seekers and other refugees in America, ORR drastically increased the number of noncitizens eligible to receive funding over the bulk of President Joe Biden’s term, with more than $10 billion shelled out to grant-receiving organizations just in fiscal year 2023.

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Non-governmental groups bilked taxpayers for up to $1.7 billion in services including dollar-for-dollar matching savings plans for cars, homes, college educations or startups; small-business loans of up to $15,000; loans to repair credit history of up to $1,500; “cultural orientation,” “emergency housing support,” legal assistance and Medicaid care.

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The most funding, however, was spent on unaccompanied migrant children, with $12.4 billion obligated over the five years — even as federal whistleblowers were calling out ORR for placing many of the 291,000 kids in their care with unvetted and at times abusive sponsors.

“The Shining City on a Hill, with its walls and doors, makes room for legal immigrants and legitimate refugees and asylum seekers, but the ORR has made a mockery of that vision in recent years,” OpenTheBooks CEO John Hart told The Post.

“ORR is part of a troubling trend of using nonprofit groups as ideological proxies. Vast sums are being outsourced to evade accountability and prop up an immoral, exploitive system that is hurtful to both American citizens and people in other countries who are longing for a better life.”

Thursday’s report comes after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) came under fire for sending around $80 million — subsequently clawed back by the Trump administration Tuesday — to put migrants up in New York City hotels and provide other services.

More than $2.6 billion went out the door in fiscal year 2020, $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2021, $3.3 billion in fiscal year 2022, $10 billion in fiscal year 2023 and $4.2 billion in fiscal year 2024.

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The watchdog group pointed out that the windfall came as ORR was expanding access to legal counsel for migrants and eliminating the need for other noncitizens, like refugees, to become economically self-sufficient “as quickly as possible.”

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