Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian testified today before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, at a hearing titled “Public Funds, Private Agendas: NGOs Gone Wild.”

Krikorian’s testimony detailed the Center’s findings regarding the significant use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to support a transnational network of UN agencies and NGOs that encourage and facilitate illegal immigration, contributing to the ongoing crisis at the southern border.

“[CIS] documented a large UN-NGO support network from field reporting and annual reports from this group called the Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan. This network consisted of waystations all along the Latin American illegal migration routes that made it possible for millions of foreign nationals from as many as 180 countries to illegally get to the U.S. border, in part funded by U.S. taxpayers.

Some of these funds were provided directly to NGOs by the State Department’s Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration (USAID). Other funding was sent indirectly through our funding of UN agencies, which then in turn funded NGOs. This often was described as merely humanitarian assistance to people who would travel anyway, but in reality this amounted to a coordinated, well-funded assistance designed to undermine U.S. immigration laws.”

Krikorian elaborated on the numerous U.S. based and overseas based groups stationed throughout Central and South America, funded – at least in part – by U.S. taxpayers, that have made this flow of illegal immigrants possible. In conclusion, Krikorian stressed the importance of oversight and ensuring recipients of U.S. dollars do not engage in promoting illegal immigration.

The full hearing and Krikorian’s written testimony are available here.