Nonprofit misused taxpayer dollars to fly migrants around US, Dem rep alleges

A Texas lawmaker alleged Friday that a local nonprofit is misusing taxpayer funds through its purchase of airline tickets for migrants.

Catholic Charities of San Antonio is purchasing airline tickets for asylum-seekers in their care with federal grant money, Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar alleged. The allegation emerges as millions of federal taxpayer dollars continue to be doled out to nonprofit groups that are helping manage the border crisis under President Joe Biden.

The migrants are flocking to Cuellar’s district in search of free airline tickets to their U.S. destination of choice, the lawmaker told Border Report.

“We talked to Holding Institute and they said that when they talk to migrants they want to go to San Antonio and part of the reason is because they pay for transportation,” he said in an interview with Border Report. Cuellar noted that these migrants are specifically asking about the street name where the Catholic Charities facility is located: “And they call it the milk and honey place.”

While Cuellar noted that he helped start the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) program a decade ago, he never intended for these funds to be used this way.

“When I first started this program, I said it would only be used for food and shelter, maybe transportation inside a city, but not to be sending them up there. The family or somebody should pay for that, not the taxpayer dollars,” he noted.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Cuellar’s office for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

He was joined by Texas colleague Rep. Monica De La Cruz, a Republican, who also voiced concerns over the idea of a nonprofit allegedly using federal funds to pay for airfare for illegal aliens.

“These tax dollars were not intended to be used to fly illegal immigrants all over their country to the destination of their choice,” De La Cruz said to Border Report. “They misused funds and sent these illegal immigrants where their preferred destination was with taxpayers’ hard-earned money. This is just simply unacceptable.”

The criticism comes as federal tax dollars roll into Texas and other states to help deal with the ongoing migrant crisis. The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday it will be dishing out $300 million nationwide for the FEMA Shelter and Services Program.

The program recently allocated $17.8 million to multiple San Antonio organizations that provide migrant services. The Catholic Charities of San Antonio will be receiving a substantial portion of this money: around $10 million.

Catholic Charities of San Antonio didn’t immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment

Biden has overseen an explosion in illegal border crossings during his administration, with over two million migrant encounters at the southern and northern borders in fiscal year 2023 and another million in the first five months of fiscal year 2024, according to the latest Customs and Border Protection data.

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