House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan is investigating how the United Nations is working with the Biden administration to “fast-track” thousands of migrants into the United States as the country reels from the ongoing border crisis.
Jordan demanded the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which are each part of the UN, hand over documents showing how they have coordinated with the Biden administration to resettle thousands of foreign nationals into the U.S., according to two letters obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday. Both the UNHCR and the IOM work with the State Department to resettle migrants into the U.S. via the Safe Mobility Offices, an initiative launched by the Biden administration.
The letter argued that the agencies took advantage of “illegal” immigration pathways created by the Biden administration, such as abuse of the parole system.
“Despite an unprecedented border crisis and the Biden Administration’s release of millions of illegal aliens into the United States, the Administration continues to create additional unlawful avenues to fast-track even more arrivals into the country,” the letter to UNHCR stated.
The letters to the UNHCR and IOM requested all communications the two organizations have had with the State Department and other offices regarding the Safe Mobility Offices initiative, as well as the amount of funding they’ve devoted to the initiative and other relative documentation. California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock co-signed the letters.
“Under President Biden, the State Department has announced its Safe Mobility Offices initiative, which allows illegal aliens to bypass the southwest border and, according to UNHCR, ‘avoid the risks associated with onward movement,’” the letter continued. “In other words, this new program fast-tracks aliens into the United States out of sight of the American people and without public transparency of the chaos at the border,” the letter continued.
Launched by the Biden administration in 2023, the Safe Mobility Offices initiative is a collection of processing centers in Latin America and elsewhere that give foreign nationals the opportunity to apply to migrate legally into the U.S., according to the State Department. Noncitizens are given different avenues for getting into the country, including through refugee resettlement, work visa programs, family visa programs or humanitarian parole.
“Far from simply expanding the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, Safe Mobility Offices give aliens outside the United States ‘several options’ to resettle in the United States, including through ‘family reunification, labor pathways,’ and expansion of the Biden Administration’s illegal abuses of humanitarian parole,” the letter stated.
UNHCR and IOM have both worked on outreach to foreign nationals about the initiative — while enjoying major funding from the American taxpayer. The U.S. doled out $1.9 billion in funding to UNHCR last year and gave $16 million in funds to IOM last year, according to the letters.
Over 21,000 individuals had been approved to resettle legally into the U.S. via the Safe Mobility Offices in Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala, according to Jordan’s office. By mid-April, the Safe Mobility Offices had already reached roughly 170,00 foreign nationals and conducted more than 33,000 refugee interviews.
Due to the significant number of migrants being facilitated through this initiative — and despite the country already facing financial and logistical strain over the refugee crisis emanating from the southern border — Jordan is demanding transparency.
The letters were addressed to UNHCR Commissioner Filippo Grandi and IOM Director General Amy Pope. Neither office immediately responded to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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