This month, the House Judiciary Committee published a new report criticizing the Biden-Harris administration’s creation of Safe Mobility Offices. Safe Mobility Offices are processing centers, set up by the State Department and funded by taxpayer dollars, that coordinate with the United Nations to “fast-track” migrants into the United States. The Biden administration created these Safe Mobility Offices based on the pretext that they would eliminate the need for migrants to make the dangerous journey to the U.S.-Mexico border. The House Judiciary Committee, however, argues that the administration is colluding with the U.N. to help migrants make their way to the United States.
Safe Mobility Offices (SMO) were launched in June 2023 through the creation of processing centers in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Ecuador. According to the Department of State, the offices are “part of the U.S. government’s holistic approach to promote safe, orderly, and humane migration management.” At these SMOs, migrants can submit free applications to enter the U.S. through various channels, including refugee status, temporary work permits, and the so-called “lawful” family-reunification and nationality-based parole programs. Then, the U.S. government (along with international partners) “review applications for eligibility, international protection needs, and local integration options.” In other words, the SMOs are acting almost as travel agents for migrants, providing a variety of “pathways” to enter the United States.
It doesn’t stop there, however. Those who were not provided with option to enter the U.S. are referred to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) to seek refugee status. At that time, the U.N. counsels them on alternative routes to the United States.
The Judiciary Committee’s report outlines how SMOs affect our immigration processes. According to the committee, during the short time the program has been operating, 256,200 free applications have already been submitted via the program’s online portal. As a result, more than 18,000 aliens from Central and South America have departed for resettlement in the United States. In addition, nearly 67,000 total aliens have been referred to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for potential resettlement in the U.S., and at least 7,000 aliens have been identified by the IOM as “potentially eligible to enter the U.S. through other means.”
The cost of these SMOs is also significant. As the committee notes, “The Biden-Harris Administration’s alliance with open-borders bureaucrats at the United Nations has come at the expense of American taxpayers.” The report states that “UNHCR has spent $67.1 million of U.S. taxpayer funding on SMOs, with [International Organization for Migration] devoting another $14.6 million of U.S. taxpayer funding to the initiative, totaling more than $80 million between UNHCR and IOM.”
The SMOs are particularly troubling because they, in part, represent the outsourcing of America’s immigration programs to international and non-governmental organizations. According to the committee, “Only 14 percent of IOM employees devoted to the Safe Mobility Initiative are U.S. citizens, however, meaning that the Biden-Harris Administration uses U.S. taxpayer dollars to pay foreign national employees of the United Nations to counsel other foreign nationals on the best ways to enter the United States.”
The future of Safe Mobility Offices may rest with Congress. The House and Senate are still working to finalize fiscal year 2024 spending bills, and will take into consideration President Biden’s 2024 budget request of $450 million for the Safe Mobility Offices to expand the initiative to new countries. Congress will return this month to negotiate funding levels for this and a variety of other Biden-Harris immigration proposals. FAIR has and will continue to oppose this initiative and urge congressional leaders to close the offices and divert the taxpayer dollars to enforcing our immigration laws.
