Immigration
CONFIRMED: U.S. Taxpayers are Funding UN-Supported ‘Money Cards’ and ‘Hard Cash’ for ‘Repeat Border Crossers’ in Mexico
Cash debit cards are being handed out not only to illegal immigrants but to “repeat border crossers.” Todd Bensman reports on one of his trips to Reynosa, Mexico’s migrant camp where he took photo documentation of a United Nations-supported International Organization for Migration (IOM) handing out the money.
One of two workers at a plastic folding table inside the Reynosa camp, which was filled to capacity with at least 1,200 mostly U.S.-expelled Central Americans, said they were distributing the cards for IOM to help migrants waiting until they cross the Rio Grande at greater leisure to claim asylum, for which most will be declared ineligible years later. Many parents, for instance, got about $400 every 15 days, I was told, or $800 a month if they were still there to collect it, although the support level varied.
When Bensman tweeted the photos he took, Republican lawmakers were outraged, as they saw the images as evidence that the U.S. taxpayer-funded 10M was providing material support to an ongoing mass migration harmful to America’s national interest.”
Bensman admits “when I took the photos, I wasn’t exactly sure of exactly what I was seeing in Reynosa.” But, he continues, “here’s what I have learned since: The money card is confirmed beyond doubt, but also ‘hard cash in envelopes’ and ‘movement assistance’; and an online IOM ‘Emergency Manual’ describes what I saw as part of a program it terms ‘Cash-Based Interventions,’ or CBIs.”
Therefore, Bensman investigative report continues:
A couple of weeks later, Texas Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, and 11 other House Republican co-sponsors introduced the “No Tax Dollars for the United Nations Immigration Invasion Act” bill. It would prohibit the $3.8 billion in contributions currently proposed in the White House 2022 budget to the IOM and other UN-supported organizations. A Daily Caller story that broke news of the bill’s introduction quoted Gooden citing my Reynosa photos…
…So, for starters, country-specific IOM “Cash Working Groups” are indeed coordinating the handouts of the cash-holding plastic cards I saw (referred to as prepaid debit cards, e-wallets and e-cards) to intending U.S. border crossers in Reynosa, Mexico. But it turns out that is just an iceberg tip. The IOM is handing out cash and other material support to intending illegal border crossers in as many as 100 other shelters it helped build, expand, or supports from Central America north.
Some form of this has been around for years, but starting with a mass-migration event and Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy in 2019, the IOM supercharged the program and “institutionalized” it. This doubled the countries where it is used in 2020 and increased by 77 percent the number of recipients to 1.6 million worldwide, according to an annual 2020 IOM report. That would include Mexico.
The IOM Emergency Manual document says this cash assistance also includes less-seeable bank transfers, mobile transfers, and e-vouchers that go to intending illegal border crossers en route or at least temporarily blocked like many of those I saw and interviewed in Reynosa. In addition to those and the pre-paid plastic cards, the IOM says in its Emergency Manual that it also sometimes hands out “cash in envelopes (hard cash).” No details are offered on that.
Many payments are given as “unconditional; unrestricted cash transfers” for “multi-purpose use,” the manual says. Still other handouts subsidize the lodging, rent, and utilities of intending border crossers for “safe tenure, to reduce the risk of forced eviction.”
Elections
Voters in Multiple States Approve Measures Prohibiting Noncitizen Voting
Many lessons were learned on election night, at least for those who are willing to listen. Among the most pivotal addresses voter integrity. Voters across the United States turned out in force to weigh in on voting rights and election integrity in state ballot measures, with particular focus on the contentious issue of noncitizen voting.
In every state where voters were asked to decide on prohibiting noncitizens from voting, the measures passed with significant majorities. The results reveal a strong consensus across the states, with approval rates all exceeding 62%. The Center Square gives the details:
– South Carolina led with the highest support, with 86% voting in favor of the ban.
– Oklahoma (81%), North Carolina (77.6%), Iowa (76%), and Missouri (68%) also saw overwhelming majorities in support.
– Wisconsin (70%), Idaho (65%), and Kentucky (62%) similarly passed measures to restrict voting to U.S. citizens only.
These ballot measures reflect a growing trend among states to explicitly prohibit noncitizen voting, a policy that has gained traction since Congress passed a 1996 law banning noncitizen voting in federal elections for the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, and presidency. However, federal law does not extend to state and local elections, leaving the decision to individual states.
While all state constitutions require U.S. citizenship for voting, laws regarding noncitizen voting vary at the state level. Some states explicitly prohibit noncitizen voting in state and local elections, including Arizona, North Dakota, Georgia, Florida, and Ohio. However, a few jurisdictions, such as parts of California, Maryland, and Vermont, have allowed noncitizen voting in certain local elections, prompting states to seek clearer, uniform policies.
The push to restrict noncitizen voting has intensified in recent years, with Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Ohio all enacting bans from 2018 to 2022. This year’s decisive votes in eight additional states signal that the trend is likely to continue.
In Iowa, voters also approved a measure permitting 17-year-olds to participate in primary elections if they will be 18 by the time of the general election, aligning with similar policies in other states that aim to engage younger voters.
Missouri voters passed a measure prohibiting ranked-choice voting, while Nevada enacted a requirement for voter identification with 74% support, underscoring voter concerns over ballot security.
Meanwhile, Connecticut passed a measure by 57% authorizing laws for no-excuse absentee voting, aiming to expand voter access while balancing concerns over election security.
The conversation around these ballot initiatives reflects ongoing tensions around election policy and state sovereignty in election law. The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted an emergency stay in Virginia to keep noncitizens off voter rolls, a decision expected to influence similar cases nationally as states prepare for the 2024 presidential election.
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MicMac69
December 21, 2021 at 2:37 am
US Taxpayers are/were already funding:
The Ayatollahs: The billions sent to Iran, though “secret” were still public funds
The Talibans – the billions left behind will never be returned, so that’s funding
Domestic Terrorism – The billions of damages provoked by blm riots will never be reimbursed, so that’s funding
The CCP – the billions paid to China will never come back, so that’s funding
The CCP Virus – It’s with american funding credited by Fauci that the Wuhan laboratory was able to conduct its insane research
The Woke Wave – which is becoming a tsunami started in the USA…
So, a bit of extra “unconditional; unrestricted cash transfers” for “multi-purpose use” shouldn’t surprise anyone! And at least, if the beneficiaries succeed crossing the border, part of these “unconditional, unrestricted cash transfers” will come back to the USA… were they are hardly needed to further fund illegals’ education, health and social assistance, prison accomodation, etc…
Bill Earle
December 21, 2021 at 12:34 pm
So not only are we pissed off, we’re also pissed on. Wonderful.
Anonymous
January 15, 2022 at 9:55 am
Treason.