Two left-wing nonprofits have combined to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-backed government contracts since President Biden took office, with a vast majority of the money going towards efforts to keep illegal immigrants in the United States, records reviewed by Fox News Digital shows.
The Vera Institute of Justice, a New York-based group that views immigration enforcement agencies as a "threat" to civil liberties, has been the primary breadwinner in the past two years, collecting around $350 million from government contracts for immigration services. The Acacia Center for Justice, a newer nonprofit linked to the Vera Institute and another left-wing immigration group, has also pocketed tens of millions of dollars in recent federal contracts.
The progressive groups have landed the contracts amid the escalating border crisis, which recently saw a quarter of a million migrant encounters at the southern border in December, a new high for the Biden-era as the crisis enters its third year.The Vera Institute received a $171 million Health and Human Services-funded contract last March to help unaccompanied minors avoid deportation, the records show. The contract has since paid out around $180 million with supplemental agreements as of December.
The arrangement lasts until March of this year but can hit as high as $983 million if renewed until March 2027. If extended, it will be the largest federal contract the group has received for immigration-related services dating back to the mid-2000s by a wide margin.
Vera has secured other large government contracts since early 2021, including a $168 million contract in March 2021 for the same purpose of helping unaccompanied minors avoid deportation. During this time, the group also obtained smaller contracts ranging between $4 million and $12 million from other federal departments.
In addition to its immigration focus, the Vera Institute seeks to end mass incarceration by cutting down on the number of jails, prisons, and detention centers in the United States. The group has also backed defunding the police and has called border security a "threat" to civil liberties.
"Its name should be Vera Institute for Lawlessness, because it's at war with the law and public safety: calling to defund police, legalize all drugs, and open the border to all comers," Scott Walter, president of the conservative Capital Research Center, told Fox News Digital. "It's amazing these enemies of the law get over 90% of their revenue from the government -- more than some defense contractors can boast."
"A sane government would resist these foes of civilization, not fund them, and certainly not help them bring chaos to our poorest, most vulnerable communities," Walter added.
