While the border crisis rages on and frequent, preventable crimes as well as stories of illegal aliens displacing Americans in receiving services continue to come out of cities like New York, Chicago, and Denver, even rural America will not be spared. This is all thanks to the Biden administration and several allied nongovernmental organizations.
NGOs facilitate President Joe Biden’s border crisis by transporting, sheltering, feeding, and providing social and legal services for the millions migrating to and throughout the U.S. NGOs receive billions of dollars in federal funding to resettle aliens in our communities regardless of their legal status and without proper vetting or coordination efforts with localities.
In 2024, for example, World Relief, a global Christian organization, has received U.S. taxpayer funding to transport 75 Somalis to rural Wisconsin. Seventy-five may seem insignificant compared to the millions of illegal aliens who have already crossed our southern border, but this is just the beginning for Eau Claire and Chippewa Counties as well as the surrounding area. The plan is to resettle at least 3,000 Somalis in western Wisconsin over the next three years, where nearly 1,900 already reside.
World Relief is one of the NGOs the Biden administration uses to transport and resettle aliens in the U.S., and it receives some of the highest taxpayer funding.
Over the past 12 months, the U.S. government awarded the organization over $91 million for such services, according to USASpending.gov. Yet, with respect to at least Wisconsin resettlement, World Relief has failed to coordinate efforts with local officials thus far. Federal law requires resettlement agencies to frequently consult with local officials to arrange “the intended distribution of refugees among the States and localities before their placement in those States and localities.”
Notice is critical when resettling thousands of foreign nationals into U.S. neighborhoods to make sure localities’ resources and services—including housing, schools, and jobs—are not overburdened by the influx of immigrants. There should not be a risk of Wisconsin residents being displaced and their children’s schooling disrupted due to an unmanageable influx of immigrants, as we’ve seen in cities throughout the U.S. This can be preventable with notice and approval by local officials.
Wisconsinites must be alerted to the national security concerns of resettlement as well. The Biden administration has consistently done little or no vetting of those it has mass-released into America. The U.S. government does not have a strong relationship with Somalia, so it is not able to properly vet each migrant with the assistance of the Somali government.
Similarly, when the U.S. surrendered Afghanistan in 2021, resulting in the Taliban—an Islamic terrorist organization—taking over the Afghan government, over 79,000 Afghans were admitted into the U.S. without proper vetting. In a Department of Homeland Security inspector general report, the inspector general found that the Afghans were not properly vetted because the U.S. lacked critical data needed for the vetting process. As a result of poor vetting practices, at least two Afghans who were national security threats were able to enter the U.S.
It is unclear whether these Somalis being resettled in Wisconsin have been properly vetted by the U.S. government. When concerned Wisconsin residents asked a World Relief representative about background checks of the coming Somalis, the NGO representative responded, “I don’t know.” Given the Afghanistan precedent, Wisconsinites should not give the Biden administration the benefit of the doubt.
Furthermore, Somalis already settled in the U.S. have resisted assimilation into America. For example, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, herself a resettled refugee, represents constituents from Minnesota, home to the largest population of Somalis in the U.S.—over 64,000. She has bragged about advancing a Somalia First agenda in Congress.
What can Wisconsinites do regarding NGOs, a lack of resettlement notification and coordination, and potentially unvetted aliens? First, Wisconsin legislators should consider defunding and removing business licenses of organizations that operate in the state but do not adequately notify the state of future resettlement.
Second, it is paramount that state and local law enforcement share information and cooperate with federal immigration enforcement officials to keep Wisconsin citizens safe. That means prohibiting “sanctuary” jurisdictions within the state and enforcing such anti-sanctuary policies. Sanctuary policies seek to protect criminal aliens from deportation while releasing them back onto the streets, endangering immigrant communities, law enforcement officers, and citizens alike.
Finally, it must be noted that left-leaning NGOs are actively encouraging non-U.S. citizens, including illegal aliens, to register and vote in this year’s elections, even though noncitizens cannot lawfully vote in federal elections.
As one example, an NGO posted flyers in its migrant camp in Mexico, instructing illegal aliens about to cross our southern border to vote in the 2024 election for Biden. At a time when election integrity is under great scrutiny and masses of foreigners are entering our country through the wide-open border, Americans must protect their own legitimate votes.
Wisconsin should safeguard its voter registration and elections by requiring photo ID during registration and voting and by regularly cleaning its voter rolls to prevent noncitizens from voting or having ballots cast in their name.
While an NGO resettling a refugee population into rural Wisconsin may initially seem of minimal consequence, it is important for Wisconsinites—and all Americans—to see the bigger national picture of Biden’s open border policies, the NGOs facilitating his agenda, and the consequences for U.S. citizens.
It is up to Wisconsin citizens to enforce sound policies to protect Wisconsin resources, public safety, and election integrity. Other states face similar challenges and need to do the same.