Immigration
nonprofits fair game for investigations, says new House task force leader
Brandon Gill
Gill
has taken particular interest in examining organizations and politicians who
used their charitable status for political benefit.
By
Amanda Head justthenews.com 5-29-26
Nonprofits
that abuse the government for political gain may soon find themselves in the
investigative crosshairs of a newly formed House task force, says Texas GOP
Rep. Brandon Gill, who will lead the panel under the House Oversight Committee.
The
six-month Task
Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses
will examine illegal DEI policies, misuse of immigration and social welfare
programs that defraud taxpayers, and efforts by foreign actors and dark money
groups to suppress free speech.
"You
do not have the right to run an organization that takes tax dollars that
engages in illegal activity or engages in domestic unrest or engages oftentimes
in political activity, whether it's nonprofits or other sorts of entities that
are taking government money," Gill, the task force chairman, told Just
The News exclusively this week.
The
freshman lawmaker was appointed to the chairmanship post by House Oversight
Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican.
Gill
argues that Congress has the responsibility to examine the issues of abuse and
fraud and withhold funds from groups found to be in violation.
"We
have to ask ourselves as elected representatives if it makes sense to take your
hard-earned tax money and put it in the pockets of NGOs or other entities that
are working against you and against American interests, and the answer is
obviously no," said Gill, who also said his task will focus on defending
constitutional rights against institutional abuses.
"So
that's a big part of going after fraud and going after waste and abuse as
well."
Gill
and Comer took quick oversight action almost immediately after the task force
was launched – requesting documents on alleged fraud in Ohio’s Medicaid Home
and Community-Based Services program.
Ohio's
HCBS Medicaid waiver program provides such services as personal care,
homemaking and chores to allow Medicaid recipients to live at home instead of
in nursing facilities. Recent reporting exposed alleged widespread fraud,
including improper or fake billing totaling
potentially over $1 billion.
Gill
says that while fraud happens across the country, red states such as Ohio have
been more willing to examine and investigate.
"Most
Republicans would agree with me that if there is fraud in a red state, we want
to go after that just as aggressively as we would in a blue state," he
said. "But the fact is that far more often than not, this fraud is taking
place in states that Democrats control, whether it's California or New York or
Minnesota or many other states."
Gill
has taken particular interest in examining organizations and politicians who
used their charitable status for political benefit.
"Those
are the areas where we have found, like we did in Minnesota, that elected
representatives kind of made a deal with fraudsters, that you can defraud the
federal government or the state government, and we're going to look the other
way, and we want you to vote for us," he told Just The News,
"That
was kind of the deal that elected representatives, Democrats, made in
Minnesota. I think you see that in other areas where, essentially, the left is
weaponizing the federal purse in order to pursue their own political gain and
to attack Republicans, and that's something that we're going after aggressively."
In
particular, recent fraud scandals in Minnesota have drawn intense scrutiny
of the state's Democratic leadership.
Federal
prosecutors estimate that fraud in social services programs – including
Medicaid, child care, housing stabilization, and COVID-era nutrition
initiatives like Feeding Our Future—could total up to $9 billion.
High-profile
cases include a $250 million scheme in which fraudsters submitted
fake meal claims, leading to convictions such as a 41.5-year sentence for a
key figure.
Minnesota's
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz faced heavy criticism for alleged lax oversight and
slow response, contributing to his decision not to seek reelection.
Critics,
including Republicans, argue his administration fostered a “culture
of tolerance” for fraud, while Democrats counter that they took the issue
seriously, pursued investigations, and that GOP actions are politically
motivated or tied to broader immigration enforcement, according
to nytimes.com and cbsnews.com.
The
scandal has become a liability
for other Democrats, such as Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in the 2026 Senate race,
amid ongoing congressional hearings and audits.
Another
issue Gill and members of Congress are probing is foreign interference through
nonprofits.
Rep.
Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., talked about the work the House Ways and Means
Committee is doing as the overseers of the IRS and tax policy.
That
committee has been investigating the issue of foreign interference through
foreign money funneled into U.S. nonprofits to undermine and disrupt the
country. Malliotakis says liberal trans-rights activist group Code
Pink is the latest example.
"We
saw those college campus protests that were anti-Semitic being fueled by
foreign money, and we've exposed a lot of it, and we've turned that over to the
IRS for consideration," she said.
"Here
we have Code Pink. They've met with the Communist Cuba regime. They've met with
the Communist Chinese regime. In fact, a lot of their money comes from
Communist China. They've met with the Iranian regime, with the leadership of
Hamas at one point. These are people who are actively working against the
United States of America and trying to undermine us."
Malliotakis
said that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will be appearing before the House
Ways and Means Committee soon to talk about these issues, and she intends to
make the 501c3 status of such groups a priority in her questioning, as they are
effectively subsidized by taxpayers.
Other
Republican members of the task force include Reps. Jim Jordan, of Ohio; Andy
Biggs, of Arizona; Michael Cloud, of Texas; Byron Donalds, of Florida; and
Brian Jack, of Georgia.
