The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Wednesday accused a Texas-based nonprofit of accepting $18 million a month from Health and Human Services (HHS) to operate a vacant facility.
In early 2021, a former ICE employee and Biden transition team member joined Family Endeavors (now just Endeavors), which provides services to illegal immigrants, and immediately helped secure a $530 million no-bid contract with HHS.
As American Greatness reported in June of 2021, the nonprofit announced on Inauguration Day that former ICE official, Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, would become their government liaison as senior director for migrant services and federal affairs.
The Biden administration contracted Family Endeavors through September 30, 2021 to house over 1,200 migrants at a time in Arizona and Texas.
They paid the company $86.9 million in a no-bid contract lasting 6 and a half months for a multi-state contract. Each bed totals over $352 daily. The ICE contract repeated that the “Government would be seriously injured” had they not awarded this no-bid contract to Family Endeavors to handle the migrant influx – an “unusual and compelling urgency,” as they described it. The contract also noted that the expected migrant influx would be the highest seen in over 20 years.
The contract didn’t speculate as to why this sudden, emergency-level influx was occurring.
Soon after Lorenzen-Strait joined Family Endeavor, Biden’s HHS awarded the organization with a $530 million no-bid contract for “emergency intake” and long-term care of migrant children.
The contract, which resulted in Family Endeavors’ cash and portfolio of investments growing from $8.3M in 2020 to $520.4M in 2023, has drawn the attention of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Since March 2024, HHS has paid ~$18M/month to keep the Pecos [Texas] facility open despite sitting empty,” the DOGE X account posted on Wednesday. “With national licensed facility occupancy now below 20%, HHS was able to terminate this contract, saving taxpayers over $215M annually.”
The post included images of the facility showing several stationary golf carts and a room full of tables and chairs.
The Department of Homeland Security’s X account responded to DOGE’s post by tagging U.S. Attorney Ed Martin and asking him to “please investigate.”
“Duly noted,” Martin replied on X. “We are on it.”
Martin also responded to DOGE’s post, writing: “I see it. We will dig into this.”
The Endeavors website describes the organization as helping to “restore dignity and improve the quality of life for the vulnerable people we serve through the benefits of our programs.”
The group says it also aims to assist “vulnerable people in crisis” like veterans, disaster victims, the homeless, and migrants.
Is there anyone dealing with the US government who isn’t a low-down, dirty, cheating, lying, greedy, grifting crook? Let’s begin the budgeting process by assuming the money is being stolen and wasted, not a “needed” or “urgent” service! Conservatively, we ought to be able to cut the spending in half FY1. Each year thereafter, we should cut the federal budget by another 25% - 50%.
The problem with so much of it is the perversion of the relationship between the federal government, which has very few, but imperative functions which are ignored or subverted in favor of extraconstitutional functions which waste and redistribute trillions from American taxpayers and citizens to the worst dreck in the world. The proliferation of federal policy and spending to include things never imagined by the Framers results in moral hazard on a scale unimaginable to most people.
WAY, WAY BACK when I was just a young whippersnapper in my 20s - which is the term I use in the here and now - to this day - to refer occasionally - affectionately - to the young men, my protégés I mentor I decided that anything to do with “government” was inherently, systemically and inescapably corrupt and eschewed all direct involvement with it.
Yet, it is a necessary evil that we can’t avoid so the best we can do is hamstring it so that its irresistible propensity to become totalitarian - is held in check, which was the purpose of the Constitution and which re which, Thomas Jefferson when helping write it said; and this is from a clip from a PBD short (wish I could say I was well versed enough to dredge it up from my voluminous (lack) of study of history, but alas! LOL One must give credit where credit is due.
Jefferson said: “The two enemies of people are criminals and The Government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so that the second will not become the legalized version of the first.”
Amusingly, later, when he was the third President he was upset because The Constitution was stopping him from doing what he wanted to do!
Also - did you know that the American Constitution is the longest running, still in effect Constitution in the history of the world. Yes, there have been many instances of earlier cultures having constitutions (Columbia I think has had ten - since the 1980s) but no other nations constitution has run for 250 years plus or minus.
Anyway, perhaps what Jefferson should also have had in mind, and put into the Constitution, was that no one can serve in the government for more than a tightly circumscribed, limited and enforced with Draconian fervor period of time.
Lest their ability to become more criminal than any criminal - like James Comey, Obama and their ilk that staff their evil cabal etc. outstrip even “the best laid plans of mice and men”?
And, for when someone like Comey comes along - there’s always jail or, better yet, executing him for treason against a sitting President.
We need some serious examples made of these scum, these traitors. Otherwise?
You know as well as I do that they will laugh and keep on keeping on believing that no one will ever be able to stop them because they are “so smart”.