WASHINGTON—The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, and Border Security and Immigration Center, today released new information documenting the scope not just of the Biden border crisis, but the role of non-governmental organizations in facilitating and continuing it.    

In a new memo titled, “Tracking Movement of Illegal Aliens from NGOs to Interior of USA”, the Oversight Project unveiled new data showing the massive numbers of illegal aliens who have made their way to NGO facilities physically located along the border and in border states, and subsequently traveled throughout the United States.  

As part of the Oversight Project’s work to document NGO involvement in the border crisis, the Project launched an investigation which ultimately obtained a sampling of approximately 30,000 unique and anonymized mobile devices that were geofenced to a number of these NGOs along the border. These locations were chosen based on human source information, as well as open-source intelligence, that they may be involved in helping illegal aliens travel from the border to various parts of the interior. Device pings were captured throughout the month of January 2022, in four different phases: 

• Phase One involved “geofencing” the physical locations of the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Center and the Del Rio Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Station—around 400 devices pinged on premises. 

• Phase Two of the investigation involved the geofencing of 20 NGO facilities in border states—around 22,000 devices pinged on premises. 

• Phase Three involved geofencing 13 NGO locations located in close physical proximity to the border—around 5,000 devices pinged on premises. 

• Phase Four of the investigation focused on geofencing Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, located in San Juan, Texas—around 3,400 devices pinged on premises. 

Phase Two results demonstrated that these 22,000 devices were later traced to 431 separate U.S. congressional districts out of a total 435 congressional districts. Of the 52 congressional districts with the highest density of devices, 71% were Republican congressional districts. Of the 5,000 devices captured in Phase 3, they were later traced to all but one congressional district, and of the 3,400 captured in Phase 4—all at just one NGO location—those phones later pinged in 433 of 435 congressional districts. In short, this is proof that Biden’s border crisis has turned every state into a border state.   

The Oversight Project memo notes:   

“The investigation confirmed that a host of NGOs are actively facilitating the Biden border crisis. Overflow from Customs and Border Protection is being transferred to these organizations so that Border Patrol avoids overcrowded facilities. These organizations apply for, and receive, taxpayer money to provide processing and transportation services and infrastructure to facilitate the migration of illegal aliens into the interior of the country.” 

Mike Howell, director of the Oversight Project and former DHS oversight counsel, released the following statement on the groundbreaking findings:  

“Our investigation is the first ever to document the physical movement of illegal aliens into the interior of the country. What we uncovered is a mass resettlement program in which the Biden administration works hand-in-hand with NGOs. It affects the entirety of the United States. Every fire dies out unless someone fans the flames. Now we know the Biden administration has help in keeping the flames at the border burning.  

 

“The Biden administration’s open-borders policies are responsible for the historic, catastrophic crisis at the border, to be sure. However, now we can prove what border security experts have long known—NGOs that support these radical policies are facilitating it. What we’re seeing at the border is close collaboration and collusion between open-borders advocates within and outside of government. These NGOs have become processing stations for a completely overwhelmed Border Patrol, who have little choice but to release tens of thousands of illegal aliens every month. The NGOs are happy to step into the breach and form the final link in the drug cartels’ human smuggling operation, ensuring these individuals make it all around the country. Biden’s border crisis has long had nationwide consequences. This is the most shocking proof yet.”