I’ve been busy doing research for a couple of upcoming projects/events. And, so here is some data I want to share with readers. Be sure to check our ‘where to find information’ category from time to time for the latest facts and figures involving refugees and immigration generally.
These are the nine major contractors the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHS) fund. They call them Voluntary Agencies (VOLAGs) which is such a joke considering the large amount of federal funding that flows to each one! There are approximately 350 subcontractors in 180 cities working under the nine biggies.
(An attempt was made to choose a recent year for which all of the nine had submitted financial documents. Although some VOLAGs have slightly different reporting periods and reporting methods, for our purposes the 2012 ‘year’ is adequate. Also, keep in mind that some of the agencies reported their IOM travel loan income, some did not. The IOM is the International Organization for Migration, another huge federal contractor that makes the arrangements for the refugees to prepare to leave for America and it purchases their airline tickets. Refugees must reimburse that taxpayer-funded travel loan, but the VOLAG that collects the loan, pockets a percentage of it—justified as a collection fee.)
We did not include the two new contractors primarily responsible for the ‘unaccompanied minors.’
Church World Service
(From 2012 Form 990)
Total revenue: $76,185,774
Govt. grants and contracts: $45,431,781
Percent taxpayer funded: 60%
Top salary: $286,000 (Top salaries throughout include benefits and income from related activities)
Ethiopian Community Development Council (secular)
(From 2012 Form 990)
Total revenue: $15,244,802
Govt. grants: $14,609,687
Percent taxpayer funded: 96%
Top salary: $233,228
Episcopal Migration Ministries
This gets tricky. Apparently EMM (or now known as Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America), does not produce a Form 990 (no response from them to a recent inquiry was received) nor do they publish their federal income in their annual report.
The only accounting we could find is an independent auditor’s report that reveals they received $17,365,325 from the federal government for their refugee program in 2012.
Further examination by a qualified accountant would be needed to find out how they spent the $17 million.
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
(From 2012 Form 990 for HIAS, Inc. Can’t be found at Guidestar under its full name only as HIAS,Inc, just one of those things that makes tracking these VOLAGs very difficult. LOL! we have learned that they have dropped the “Hebrew” from their name.)
Total revenue: $25,418,714
Govt. grants and contracts (including travel loan income): $15,426,116
Percent taxpayer funded: 61%
Top salary: $323,162
International Rescue Committee (secular)
(From 2012 Form 990)
Total revenue: $456,122,865
Govt. grants and contracts (including travel loan income): $332,271,151
Percent taxpayer funded: 73%
Top salary: $485,321
US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (secular)
(From 2012 Form 990)
Total revenue: $39,205,548
Govt. grants and contracts: $38,817,939
Percent taxpayer funded: 99%
Top salary: $289,192
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
(From 2012 Form 990)
Total revenue: $43,563,804
Govt. grants and contracts: $42,047,935
Percent taxpayer funded: 97%
Top salary: $214,237
World Relief (National Association of Evangelicals)
(From 2012 Form 990)
Total revenue: $56,842,649
Govt. grants and contracts: $38,837,294
Percent taxpayer funded: 68%
Top salary: $211,651 (again the ‘salaries’ include other related compensation)
US Conference of Catholic Bishops
Last, but by far not least, is the US Catholic Bishops whose finances now require further explanation. The USCCB, by the way, resettles the largest number of refugees in the US with the help of Catholic Charities located throughout America. They make no effort to single out Christians for resettlement and in fact, in 2013 they were requesting that the US State Department bring more Rohingya Muslims from Burma (Myanmar) to America.
Up until recently we could access their annual reports to determine their direct income from the federal taxpayer (for their migration program), however, it appears that since RRW and others began publishing the information, we are no longer able to access those reports.
To our knowledge, no Form 990 is filed. Churches are not required to file 990s, so perhaps the Bishops consider themselves a church.
Also, since federal funds go directly to myriad Catholic Charities around the country especially to states such as Tennessee where Catholic Charities and the federal government have complete control of who comes and where they are placed with virtually no state input (called the Wilson-Fish program), it would require very knowledgeable forensic accountants to follow the money.
Here is the information we previously obtained from the USCCB’s 2012 Annual Report (it is a good thing we captured it at the time!).
Total revenue: $70,975,237
Govt. grants and contracts (includes over $3 million in travel loan income): $69,534,230
Percent taxpayer funded: 98%
We have no idea what salaries are paid in the USCCB Washington office.
A billion dollars a year!
That is how much we are spending (that we know of!) for refugee resettlement, here. That figure does not include subsidized housing, most healthcare, food stamps, other cash assistance, educating the kids or the costs to the criminal justice system!