Organization Trends

The Immigration Industrial Complex: Woke Immigration Policy

Adapted from a chapter in "The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government"


The Immigration Industrial Complex (full series)
Woke Immigration Policy | Where Does the Money Go?
Catholic Charities | Global Refuge | Influencing Elections?


Summary: The woketopusan interlocking constellation of nonprofits, far-left donors, and government bureaucracies—favors the large influx of illegal aliens America has witnessed under President Biden, perhaps thinking that these aliens will support its causes. The administrative state has worked with nonprofits to create an immigration industrial complex that sends illegal aliens throughout the country in the name of charity but with horrific effects on America.


That federal government you learned about in school, with the nice Constitution and its nifty checks and balances—that’s not how the government adopts policies today. Instead, a cabal of far-left donors props up a system of woke nonprofits that help staff bureaucratic government agencies and essentially write the laws Americans have to live by, all in the name of priorities that have nothing to do with improving your everyday life. This interlocking constellation of nonprofits, far-left donors, and government bureaucracies is the woketopus, a political monstrosity that is enabling the left-wing dark money cabal to manipulate the federal government.

Woke Immigration Policy

The woketopus favors the large influx of illegal aliens America has witnessed under President Biden, perhaps thinking that these aliens will support its causes. Under Biden, the administrative state has worked with nonprofits to create an immigration industrial complex that sends illegal aliens throughout the country in the name of charity but with horrific effects on America.

From his very first day in office, Biden rushed to reverse the policies former President Donald Trump set in place to curb illegal immigration and fortify the U.S.-Mexico border.

On January 20, 2021, Biden signed executive orders reversing Trump’s restrictions on immigrants from countries of terror concern (which Biden referred to as a “Muslim ban”), revoking Trump’s executive order beefing up enforcement of immigration law, blocking the construction of the border wall, and cementing deferred action for illegal immigrants who arrive in the U.S. as children.

In January 2024, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), released a list of 64 actions the Biden administration took to “intentionally” undermine border security.

The Department of Homeland Security under Biden began to reverse the Trump-era policy of requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico as DHS began processing their asylum cases, a policy known as the Migrant Protocols Program. DHS allowed asylum seekers to enter the U.S. on February 19, 2021, and on June 1, 2021, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas terminated the program. While the program remains in legal limbo after a U.S. district judge prevented the administration from fully ending it in December 2022, its operation ceased in October 2022.

These policies sent a message that migrants, even if they entered the U.S. illegally, would receive welcome under Biden. “Thank you for supporting us,” a group of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border told reporter Jorge Ventura back in March 2021. He had asked them what they would say to President Biden.

Also that month, a group of migrants went to a border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, wearing T-shirts reading, “Biden, Please Let Us In.” The president responded to these trends by going on news outlets like ABC News, saying, “I can say quite clearly: Don’t come.” The fact that Biden felt the need to say this clearly emphasized that his policies sent the opposite message.

A Massive Influx of Illegals

Since Biden became president, the influx of immigrants has set new records. U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered a record 3.2 million illegal aliens in fiscal year 2023 (October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023). By contrast, CBP encountered only 646,822 in the last fiscal year under Trump. Since Biden became president, CBP has encountered at least 8.7 million illegal aliens.

Many illegal aliens slip past authorities after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Fox News reporter Bill Melugin received the number of “gotaways” for each fiscal year from 2010 to 2023 through a Freedom of Information Act request in May 2024. From fiscal year 2021 (starting in October 2020) to fiscal year 2023, 1,664,203 illegal aliens got away from authorities. As Melugin noted, in the decade from fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2020, Customs and Border Protection recorded about 1.4 million “gotaways,” fewer than the number escaping authorities in the first three years of the Biden administration.

Many of these “gotaways” are likely involved in illegal smuggling, so they may have crossed the border many times.

Finally, the administration established a special parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans in January 2023. According to documents obtained by the House Committee on Homeland Security, the Department of Homeland Security helped process more than 400,000 aliens into the country between January 2023 and February 2024.

Abetting the Border Crisis

The administrative state under Biden has not just loosened border enforcement, however. It has actively helped resettle illegal aliens throughout the country, funneling billions into migrant resettlement programs. The nongovernmental organizations that help resettle illegals also pressure the Biden administration to loosen border enforcement, allowing for more illegal aliens to enter the country.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has not attempted to hide the fact that his agency, among others, is directing taxpayer dollars to transport illegal aliens throughout the country.

In an April 2022 memorandum, Mayorkas laid out his agency’s “Plan for Southwest Border Security and Preparedness.” In that plan, “Border Security Pillar 4” involves “bolstering the capacity of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to receive noncitizens after they have been processed by CBP and are awaiting the results of their immigration removal proceedings.”

DHS helps NGOs receive funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP). “The EFSP, administered by DHS through FEMA, supplements and expands ongoing work of local NGOs to meet the urgent needs of local agencies assisting the unique and vulnerable migrant population encountered by DHS,” the document explains. It notes that Congress authorized $150 million for the program.


In the next installment, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) directs billions in grants through programs to house and transport illegal aliens throughout the country.

Tyler O’Neil

Tyler O’Neil is managing editor of the Daily Signal and the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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