Florida’s child-welfare agency is asking members of the state’s congressional delegation to probe the role of non-government groups involved with migrants and refugees, a subject that was highlighted by a statewide grand jury that put together at the urging of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Department of Children and Families Secretary Shevaun Harris sent a letter on Tuesday that asked members of Congress to read a report on the role of these groups that was issued earlier this year by the Florida grand jury.
“We have little faith that the leaders in the Biden administration will do anything to address this on their own,” wrote Harris. “However, you have the power and authority to take action to hold (the Office of Refugee Resettlement) and any contributing provider accountable by making them address these findings.”
The DeSantis administration, along with Attorney General Ashley Moody, have been highly critical of the Biden administration’s policies regarding immigration and the flow of migrants crossing over the border with Mexico. Florida has challenged some of those policies in court.
DeSantis put in place a program that flew migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in an effort to draw attention to the effort. He talked about immigration while he was running for President where he not only faulted Biden but also criticized former President Donald Trump because he did not get Mexico to pay for a border wall.
“We’ve done more to combat Biden’s border crisis than I would say just about any other state,” DeSantis said this week who also faulted the Republican-controlled House for not doing more to oppose Biden’s immigration policies.
DeSantis first asked for a statewide grand jury to look at immigration back in the summer of 2022. The grand jury issued a series of reports including one that called on the Florida Legislature to impose a tax on all wire transfers on money overseas that could be used on enforcement or help the state deal with unaccompanied migrant children.
The grand jury report on NGOs — which can be non-profits or for-profit corporations including religious groups — was sharply critical. The report said the groups, many of which rely on government funding, “abuse their tax-exempt status and the trust of U.S. taxpayers encouraging migratory travel to the southern border for reasons such as economic mobility (which is not a legal basis for any claim of asylum or refugee status), using resources from federal funds. “
Harris in her letter called the grand jury findings “alarming and have uncovered practices sanctioned by the federal government that indirectly facilitate the human trafficking of unaccompanied children crossing the border. Our open southern border invites human trafficking and jurisdictions around the country that do not uphold the law embolden traffickers and other criminals to act without fear or penalty.”
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