U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) is joining other GOP members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in requesting Secretary of State Antony Blinken provide an accounting of the amount, goals, and uses of American aid to Mexico during the Biden administration so far.
Last Thursday, committee Ranking Member Michael McCaul (R-TX-10) authored a letter with Green and other Republicans on the panel expressing particular concern to the secretary about the extent to which U.S. taxpayer money has been used to facilitate illegal immigration. Committee members are concerned about the administration having abandoned the previous White House’s policy requiring many asylum seekers at the southern border to remain in Mexico. The Republicans want to know how much the government is spending to bring these migrants into America.
In his two years in office so far, President Joe Biden has prioritized paying for illegal immigrants’ transportation expenses, proposing a budget that funds “noncitizen processing and care costs” to the tune of $494 million. Reports have also come out indicating that some jurisdictions, including the state of Maine, have provided financial assistance to asylum seekers.
“Although the Department of Homeland Security traditionally managed [the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)], State Department funds that benefit migrants in northern Mexico clearly played a role in supporting MPP, by ensuring that migrants — who were waiting for judicial determinations regarding their U.S. immigration claims — had access to resources such as financial loans, lodging, transportation, internet, food, and legal assistance,” the congresspersons wrote. “Now that federal judges have granted the Biden administration the authority to terminate MPP, it is especially important the American people have a true accounting of how taxpayer money has been spent in Mexico under your tenure.”
This week, Green voiced disappointment about lack of answers from Blinken and his agency so far.
“After continued refusal by the State Department, we are demanding transparency regarding the amount, uses, and objectives of U.S. foreign assistance funds being deployed in Mexico,” the congressman tweeted this week.
The Foreign Affairs Committee made initial requests for the financial data in January and Republicans say they have received “nothing more than a brief, generic response” in June stating that the State Department does not play a role in ushering in asylum seekers.
In their letter, McCaul and his colleagues pointed out that “significant amounts of U.S. foreign assistance funds, managed by State, have gone towards supporting the livelihoods of migrants in Mexico.” They added that Texas and other border states have been forced to take in record high numbers of illegal entrants since Biden took office and arrests at the border have surpassed previous highs.
“As you likely know, there is strong bipartisan concern in Congress over the administration’s mishandling of the border and regional migration crises,” the representatives wrote. “The Department’s continued refusal to answer basic questions prevents the Congress from obtaining information necessary to evaluate the efficacy of the administration’s ongoing ‘root causes of migration’ strategy.”
The letter says that many Republican members of the committee strongly support foreign aid to Mexico and Central America and believe that, properly distributed, it can serve to mitigate migration pressures on the southern border. The missive goes on to note that Biden has “cited dangerous and violent circumstances” facing many asylum seekers as reason to bring them out of Mexico into the U.S.; Republican representatives want to ascertain whether taxpayer funds are actually being spent to lessen those threats.
“If, as the Biden administration alleges, drug cartel violence, human smuggling, and the transport of illicit narcotics have created an environment in Mexico so dangerous that migrants are not safe to reside there, it is reasonable to wonder about the efficacy of the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars the U.S. is sending to protect migrants’ human rights.”
A State Department spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
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Bradley Vasoli is a writer at The Tennessee Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mark Green” by Congressman Mark Green.
Laundering With Immunity: The Control Framework – Part 1
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/11/02/the-control-framework-part-one.aspx?ui=fd079a2997f3180708b1ec4db2ad622852387477ca3e6df28b5636763a8e8fd1&sd=20201017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1HL&cid=20221102&cid=DM1278355&bid=1635490554
This is Green’s Trying to look good in the news, to conceal what he is doing in the background. He has also lost my vote.
I wonder how concerned Rep Green really is about the border? He was gung ho to vote and send $45 billion to Ukraine. Green aided in giving the Biden Regime an open checkbook to send monthly payments to the corrupt grifter Zelensky. It’s all about money laundering back to the Biden Crime syndicate and military contractors.
This action by Rep Green opened my eyes to his values. He’s my Representative and I had voted for him every election until this year. He’s lost my vote forever. Trust is hard to win back once lost.