{"id":1997873,"date":"2023-08-11T13:52:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T17:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-opens-investigation-into-bidens-billions-in-corrupt-bargain-border-contracts\/"},"modified":"2023-08-11T13:55:13","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T17:55:13","slug":"gop-opens-investigation-into-bidens-billions-in-corrupt-bargain-border-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-opens-investigation-into-bidens-billions-in-corrupt-bargain-border-contracts\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP investigates alleged corrupt border contracts worth billions awarded to Biden."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgop-opens-investigation-into-bidens-billions-in-corrupt-bargain-border-contracts%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1997873&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>House Republicans \u200cLaunch Investigation into Biden Administration&#8217;s Disbursement of Billions for Immigrant\u200b Shelters<\/h2>\n<p>House Republicans\u200d are \u200blaunching an investigation\u200d into \u2063the Biden administration&#8217;s disbursement of billions of dollars for immigrant shelters \u2064to\u2064 government contractors following \u2062a jarring admission by an\u200b official who brokered the deals.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Biden transition\u2064 team official \u200dAndrew Lorenzen-Strait was\u2064 caught on\u200d video this week bragging \u2063about how he used the border crisis to help \u2062unqualified\u200c organizations make backdoor\u2064 deals with\u2063 federal agencies\u200b and\u2064 called the humanitarian crisis a\u2064 &#8220;boom for my \u2062business.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>HAWAII\u200c FIRE:\u2064 FIREFIGHTERS DROP 150,000 GALLONS OF\u200c WATER \u2063AS FIRE DEVASTATES\u2063 ISLANDS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The \u200calarming\u200d allegations of Mr. Lorenzen-Strait\u2019s corruption and his recently recorded statements only\u200c further \u2062justify the Homeland\u200d Security Committee\u2019s continued oversight \u200dof ICE\u2019s \u200bsuspect contract procurement processes,&#8221; said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green\u200c (R-TN) \u200bin a \u2064statement to the Washington Examiner. &#8220;Awarding massive, sole-source contracts for \u2062illegal immigrant services to ill-equipped non-profits such as Endeavors, \u2063possibly because\u200b of\u2064 connections to President \u200bBiden\u2019s 2020 \u2063transition team, could\u200b prove to be an unacceptable abuse of taxpayer\u2064 funds, and\u2064 ICE \u200cmust answer for\u200c these allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Call for Documents \u200band Communications<\/h3>\n<p>Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement Chairman Clay\u2064 Higgins (R-LA) and \u2063Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations Chairman Dan Bishop (R-NC) joined Green to call on Immigration \u2064and \u200cCustoms Enforcement\u2064 to turn over years \u200cworth \u200cof documents and communications about an $87 million \u200cdeal \u200cto house immigrants at \u200cthe border in \u200chotels instead of\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-opens-investigation-into-bidens-billions-in-corrupt-bargain-border-contracts\/\" title=\"GOP investigates alleged corrupt border contracts worth billions awarded to Biden.\">existing government-owned family residential\u200c centers<\/a>. The Washington Examiner\u2062 first reported the no-bid contract in April\u2064 2021.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200cincident has resurfaced after Project Veritas published videos of\u2062 Lorenzen-Strait talking\u200b at length about his Endeavors winning contracts.<\/p>\n<p>At the time of the $87 million deal, the Department of \u2064Homeland Security\u2019s Office of Inspector General responded by \u200dlaunching a yearlong investigation into\u200b the\u200d award\u2062 from ICE to Endeavors.\u200b It concluded in April\u2062 2022 that\u200d the contract was\u2062 unjustified and that\u2063 Endeavors pocketed $17 million of funds it failed to use.<\/p>\n<p>The inspector general also concluded that\u2062 ICE had never put \u2064out\u200d a \u2063notice to contractors \u2064that it needed to rent space to house immigrant \u2064families.\u2064 Endeavors\u00a0sent ICE a proposal that stated it could \u200dhouse immigrants,\u200d an unusual offering given that ICE had not disclosed any need for housing.<\/p>\n<p>Lorenzen-Strait&#8217;s prior work was a conflict of interest, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-intelligence-community-shift-from-external-to-internal-threats-has-critics-worried\/\" title=\"Report: Intelligence Community shift from external to internal \u2018threats\u2019 has critics worried\">inspector general found<\/a>, because he had crafted ICE policy\u200b as a transition team official while simultaneously\u200b advising\u00a0Endeavors.<\/p>\n<p>Lorenzen-Strait \u2064publicly signed on with Endeavors as a senior employee on Biden&#8217;s first day in office\u200d and shortly after locked down \u2064the $87 million backdoor deal and a $530 \u2062million noncompete contract to \u2063shelter unaccompanied immigrant\u200c children \u200cfor the Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mr. Lorenzen-Strait\u2063 referred to what appears to be \u2062the Endeavors contract as a \u200d&#8217;corrupt bargain,'&#8221;\u2062 the \u200clawmakers wrote in a letter to acting ICE\u200d Director Patrick Lechleitner on Friday. &#8220;He further discussed \u200d&#8217;brokering&#8217; a deal that \u2064won Cherokee\u2064 Federal, a \u2063team of\u2062 tribally owned federal contracting companies, a nearly $2 billion\u200d contract with the federal government to provide services to\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-border-policies-under-scrutiny\/\" title=\"Biden\u2019s border policies under scrutiny\">unaccompanied alien children<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the video, Lorenzen-Strait divulged that the\u2063 contractor that he helped get the contract, Cherokee\u2064 Federal, \u200cdid &#8220;not have the acumen and\u2063 the ability to win\u2064 in a competitive right&#8221; \u2063and\u200d that it was given to \u2062Cherokee Federal &#8220;because of patronage.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Cherokee\u200d Nation is not this benevolent humanitarian actor. They make \u200cmost of their money with alcohol and gambling,&#8221; Lorenzen-Strait said in the video. \u2062&#8221;I helped them move into\u2064 the \u2063migration or \u2064refugee \u200dspace this year. So \u200bthey\u2019re \u2062now becoming more evolved, more enlightened, more pragmatic only because they built it on a\u200b bedrock \u200bof \u2062understanding the \u200dcapitalist\u2063 law. We&#8217;ve got to make money.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Lorenzen-Strait also said he publicly uses the company Deep Water Point \u2063&#038;\u2062 Associates but does his business\u2064 through two unknown names: VerdinPoint and The Tanager Group.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Despite clear \u2063conflicts of\u200b interest and prior scrutiny,\u200c Mr. Lorenzen-Strait may be influencing ICE\u2019s contracts for migrant \u200bservices with non-governmental \u2062and \u2062non-profit\u2064 organizations,&#8221; \u2062the letter states.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans have also looped Lorenzen-Strait&#8217;s \u2064former subordinate at ICE, \u2062Claire Trickler-McNulty, now-assistant director of\u2063 ICE&#8217;s \u200cOffice of Immigration Program Evaluation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In\u200b this position she \u200creviews\u2064 and approves ICE contracts for migrant housing, supervision,\u2064 and services.\u2063 Ms. Trickler-McNulty previously worked with \u200cMr. Lorenzen-Strait in the Custody Programs Office,&#8221; the \u200bletter states. &#8220;Additionally, Ms. Trickler-McNulty and Mr. Lorenzen-Strait previously worked together evaluating \u200cICE contract awards. \u2062Mr. Lorenzen-Strait\u2019s \u200crelationship with the\u2062 current ICE \u200dcontracting official calls into question ICE\u2019s impartiality in contracts.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Republicans gave\u2063 ICE \u2062until Aug. 24 to provide all communications to, from,\u200d and between Lorenzen-Strait,\u2063 Trickler-McNulty, VerdinPoint, \u200cThe \u2062Tanager Group, Deep Water\u200b Point &#038; Associates, \u200bthe ICE Office \u200cof Immigration Program Evaluation, ICE&#8217;s Technical Evaluation Team, and organizational\u200c charts.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house-republicans-investigation-biden-immigrant-shelters\">CLICK HERE TO READ\u200c MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON \u200dEXAMINER<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The committee&#8217;s new investigation \u200cis on top of its six-part hearing\u2063 series examining DHS\u2064 Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas&#8217;s job performance.<\/p>\n<p>ICE did not respond to a \u2062request \u2062for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House Republicans are probing the Biden administration&#8217;s allocation of billions for immigrant shelters to government contractors. This comes after an official, Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, who facilitated the deals, was recorded boasting about exploiting the border crisis to aid unqualified organizations. An investigation has been initiated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1997874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1997873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1997873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1997873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1997873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1997874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1997873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1997873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1997873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}