Sens. Marshall, Hagerty demand info on DHS program overseen by group that backs defunding ICE

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FIRST ON FOX: Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, and Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., are calling for more information from the Biden administration over a controversial case management pilot program to aid illegal immigrants facing deportation -- which is being overseen by a nonprofit that has previously called for the defunding and abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"It is well-past time that the Case Management Pilot Program (CMPP) be subject to the oversight that it so sorely needs," the Republican senators write in a letter to top DHS officials. "Congress has a duty, including a fiduciary duty, to ensure that taxpayer money is spent correctly and that a congressionally directed pilot program has not been usurped as a means of funneling money to NGOs espousing rhetoric aimed at frustrating and dismantling immigration enforcement and our nation’s borders."

The program in question, CMPP, will provide "voluntary case management and other services" to illegal immigrants in immigration removal proceedings, including mental health services, school enrollment, legal aid, "cultural orientation programs" and connections to social services -- as well as human trafficking screening and departure planning for those being deported.

The CMPP was authorized by Congress in the 2021 DHS Appropriations Act, which provided $5 million in funding to FEMA for the program. It also set out eligibility for who could sit on the program's National Board, outlining that organizations must be nonprofits, nonpartisan, and have expertise in the asylum and refugee field, detention alternatives and case management. 

NONPROFIT THAT BACKS DEFUNDING ICE TO OVERSEE DHS PILOT PROGRAM AIDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

FILE: Migrants attempting to cross in to the U.S. from Mexico are detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the border August 20, 2022 in San Luis, Arizona.  (Nick Ut/Getty Images)

Church World Service, a faith-based non-profit that was set up after World War II, is one of the three members that met the criteria and was selected to sit on the board – along with two other non-profits – and has also been designated as its secretariat and fiscal agent. According to documents on the program, CWS "will be substantially involved in the oversight, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of the program outcomes."

That includes review of implementation plans for sub-recipients, managing grant awards, developing the program’s manual, defining data requirements and indicators, approving key personnel, and approving any subgrants. CWS itself does not receive any of the funding nor is it eligible for the grants.

The board and CWS will provide funding awards to service nonprofits and local governments to provide the migrant services -- which can also include language classes, healthcare, transportation, affordable housing and childcare -- to those enrolled in ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program. 

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The congressional authorization said the pilot program was being established "in recognition of ICE's significant lack of referral approvals for enrollment into existing case management services provided by [NGOs] and community partners" and that it was to be executed by nonprofits and "local communities."

However, Church World Service has a history of immigration activism, including embracing calls to Abolish ICE entirely or defund it. 

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) questions Attorney General Merrick Garland at the Capitol on April 26, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Greg Nash - Pool/Getty Images)

During the Obama administration, CWS demanded that ICE end immigration operations, slamming "the structural sin of raids and deportations that tear families and communities apart." In 2019 it took part in events with Democrats to oppose ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) funding and in 2021 tweeted "#AbolishICE" and "#FreeThemAll" about a report that claimed ICE had threatened hunger strikers in facilities with deportation. 

It was one of a number of groups that urged the Biden administration to end its prioritization of "aggravated felonies" and specifically gang members -- calling for it to "withdraw any reliance on gang affiliations" when it laid out its priorities. It is also a member of the Defund Hate group, which is "committed to divestment" from ICE and CBP calling them "agencies that tear apart loved ones and harm our communities."

In a statement to Fox News Digital in October, CWS said it has "long advocated for humane alternatives to detention and against the cruel and inhumane treatment of migrants seeking safety."

"CMPP is an important step toward the federal government providing the trauma-informed, wholistic case management services that all families seeking safety deserve," the group said.

But the Republican lawmakers express "grave concerns" about the governance of the program, noting that the group "now has a fiduciary responsibility directly tied to ICE, detention matters, and the immigration enforcement process overall." 

"It is appalling, though not surprising from the current administration, that a program designed to augment Alternatives to Detention (ATDs) would be used as a ploy to further leftist ideology instead of enhancing the critical mission tasked to the Department," they say. 

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The lawmakers ask for a range of information about the specifics of the program, including the selection of board members, copies of documents related to the governance of the program, the number of migrants enrolled in it, and details about the services provided under the program. They also ask how the program supplements and guides the Alternatives to Detention program – which involves illegal immigrants being monitored by a cell phone app or other methods as their cases proceed.

"Disastrous leadership at DHS is responsible for the invasion of our southern border by illegal aliens, along with the illicit deadly fentanyl that is flooding communities in my state and poisoning Kansans," Marshall said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "This is a national crisis, and DHS’s decision to involve the radical immigration views of an organization like CWS in the CMPP is outrageous and further underscores this Administration’s commitment to its open borders agenda."

Hagerty, meanwhile, said he would use his role on the Senate Appropriations Committee to continue to push the administration on the program.

"It is outrageous that after dismantling commonsense border security measures and unleashing a record-setting border crisis, Secretary Mayorkas has hired an organization that has openly called for the abolition of ICE—one of his own agencies," he said. "As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I’ll continue to hold the Biden Administration accountable and ensure that taxpayer-funded programs aren’t hijacked by organizations that oppose the very mission of the program."

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The letter comes just as a federal judge has blocked the administration from returning migrant families under the Title 42 public health order -- which has been used to expel a majority of migrants since the COVID-19 pandemic -- and says after the administration announced there had been more than 230,000 migrant encounters in October alone.