A top official in the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) directed millions in migrant assistance grants to nonprofits where she previously held senior positions, a watchdog report revealed Thursday.
Robin Dunn Marcos, who led HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) under former President Joe Biden, oversaw $22.6 billion in grant distributions since 2020, with her former employers emerging as top beneficiaries. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), where she spent 23 years as a senior director, received $598 million, while Church World Service, her employer of four years, was awarded $355 million, according to an OpenTheBooks report.
“Consistent with the Ethics Pledge, Robin Dunn Marcos is recused from participating in particular matters involving specific parties in which IRC is or represents a party,” a spokesperson for the Administration for Children and Families, ORR’s parent agency, told the outlet. “That recusal obligation lasts for two years from her date of appointment, which was September 11, 2022.”
Robin Dunn Marcos, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at the @HHSGov Department, testified on the treatment of unaccompanied children at the U.S.-Mexico border at a @GOPoversightsubcommittee hearing: https://t.co/CIvnHzDhke.#SSChat #EdChat #Border #GovChatpic.twitter.com/RdVJFMejNa
— C-SPAN Classroom (@CSPANClassroom) April 19, 2023
While HHS officials maintained to the outlet that Dunn Marcos recused herself from decisions involving her former employers, OpenTheBooks reported that IRC’s funding increased dramatically during her tenure, jumping from $22 million in fiscal year 2021 to over $235 million in 2023.
Through a network of nonprofit organizations, ORR provided an extensive array of benefits to migrants, including dollar-for-dollar matching savings plans for vehicle and home purchases, small business loans up to $15,000 and credit repair loans up to $1,500. Additional services included “cultural orientation,” emergency housing support, legal assistance and Medicaid care. The OpenTheBooks report called the programs a “giant magnet for those seeking to cross the border and claim asylum.”
ORR dramatically increased funding in general during Dunn Marcos’ tenure, with annual grant disbursements soaring from $2.6 billion in fiscal year 2020 to a peak of $10 billion in fiscal year 2023, according to the watchdog group. The surge in spending coincided with record-breaking southern border crossings, as Customs and Border Protection reported 2.4 million apprehensions during the same period.
The most substantial portion of funding — $12.4 billion — went toward programs for unaccompanied minor children, even as the agency faced mounting criticism over its handling of minors in its care. Tom Homan, now President Donald Trump’s border czar, estimated that 300,000 migrant children were unaccounted for under the program’s watch, he said in a January 2023 interview with Fox News.
OpenTheBooks filed a Freedom of Information Act request in 2023 for any emails exchanged between Dunn Marcos and IRC and has not yet received a response. Dunn Marcos left her post at ORR after Trump took office in January.
The report comes after the Trump administration clawed back over $80 million that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was using to house migrants in luxury New York City hotels Wednesday.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/CSPAN)
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