House Republicans sponsor a funding measure that includes billionaires for mass migration, which the International Organization for Migration (IOM) of the United Nations (UN) supports. The significant financial continuation coincides with the hiring of a former Democratic staff member of the House Appropriations Committee to advocate on Congress’s behalf for the use of US taxpayer funds to fund IOM.

The House Appropriations Committee will take up a bill to fund the State Department for Fiscal Year 2025 on Wednesday. The IOM, which aids in facilitating large-scale migration to the United States across the country’s southern border, is eligible to receive almost $2.5 billion from this law.

A clause guaranteeing that “none of the money appropriated by this Act may be utilized to encourage, publicize, mobilize, or manage mass-migration caravans approaching the United States southwest border” has been used by Republicans to defend the financing.

The bill goes on, saying, “The Secretary of State will report to the correct congressional committees with analysis on the planning and funding of mass-migration into the Western Hemisphere, no later than 180 days after the adoption of this Act.”

The clause is unenforceable, according to critics.

Notably, the financing proposal coincides with IOM officials hiring a former Democratic House Appropriations Committee staffer to persuade Congress to continue funding the agency, as the Hill revealed in May:

“According to a recent report, the United Nations IOM engaged Cornerstone Government Affairs to inform members about the IOM and advocate for “continued core financing in the FY 2025 budget cycle.” As part of a foreign aid measure earlier this year, Congress banned money from the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, placing the organization in charge of “orderly migration” on the defense.

“To aid in this, the IOM has enlisted the assistance of Steve Marchese, who has worked for the Appropriations Committee for 21 years.”

In order to enable mass migration in the direction of the border between the United States and Mexico, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are essential.

In early 2024, Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studies provided an overview of the network of U.N.-led programs that utilize billions of taxpayer dollars to give cash debit cards, shelter, food, medical care, and transportation to migrants attempting to cross the southern border.

IOM representatives have backed President Joe Biden’s immigration program since the beginning, in early 2021. This agenda has included a vast network of catch and release facilities, including a parole pipeline that has brought in over a million migrants to the United States.

Additionally, IOM representatives have urged the Biden administration to abandon the “Remain in Mexico” policy of former President Donald Trump, which ensured the return of migrants to Mexico until their court dates, instead of allowing them to enter the United States while awaiting asylum proceedings.

Author: Blake Ambrose