Republicans launch inquiry into Biden ally who brokered controversial ICE contract
House Republicans have launched an investigation into the role that a Biden-Harris transition team official played in the government’s award of hundreds of millions of dollars in
immigration contracts to his organization — as well as millions of dollars that auditors concluded the contractor wasted.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee’s top
Republicans sent a letter to acting U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tae Johnson on Wednesday requesting all communications between the federal agency, the contractor Endeavors, and a former Biden
transition team official, Andrew Lorenzen-Strait.
“ICE officials bypassed the ordinary competitive process to award a large, sole source $87 million contract and then wasted at least $17 million of taxpayer money because hotel rooms intended for migrant families sat empty and were mostly unused,” the
letter states. “Not only have the Biden Administration’s policies exacerbated the crisis on our border, it now appears the Administration is exploiting the crisis to reward its political allies with sole source contracts.”
The decision by lawmakers to further investigate the deal comes one year after the
Washington Examiner first
exposed that ICE
signed an $87 million contract with Endeavors, a San Antonio-based nonprofit group. Weeks later, the Department of Health and Human Services
awarded a $530 million contract to Endeavors to hold migrant children in custody. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General found Endeavors wasted $17 million of the first contract, prompting Republicans' new investigation.
Republicans launch inquiry into Biden ally who brokered controversial ICE contract