After Congressman Fry’s immigrant deadline, here is what we learned

Questions have been asked about recent spikes in Myrtle Beach immigrant numbers. Locals continue to highlight claims of illegal immigrants being “bused in” and flown into the area.

U.S. Congressman Russell Fry gave the Department of Homeland Security until Friday, April 5th to respond to questions about these issues. Here is what MyrtleBeachSC News learned through our own investigative efforts.

In May 2022, a new initiative was introduced in the Grand Strand area to help immigrants who have selected Myrtle Beach as their place of safety. The arrival of these immigrants, in Myrtle Beach, has been confirmed by members of Horry County Schools. The NGO, New Americans Program was supported by Karen Riordan of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce upon news of their launch. The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce receives $54 million annually in tax subsidies to market Myrtle Beach.

Over 30 recent arrivals, associated with Lutheran Christian Services, came from the Congo. These Congo immigrants are best known for their language with it’s unusual use of click consonants as phonemes. These are typically written with characters such as ǃ and ǂ. For those that are school age entering the school system, they can not be taught math, science, history, civics or any other classroom material until the language bridge is crossed. The process of integration into Horry County Schools is at a cost of $99,000 annually per teacher.

Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Supports NGO Effort

The Lutheran Services Carolinas expanded its New American Program to Myrtle Beach for the first time in 2022. Its inaugural location is found in the Avenue Professional Center Complex. The organization is currently established in various cities across the Carolinas including Raleigh and Asheville in North Carolina, and Myrtle Beach, Columbia, Charleston, and Greenville in South Carolina.

The aim of the program is to help refugees migrate to, and then, adjust to life in the United States and start the journey towards becoming American citizens.

The program has been in progress in Myrtle Beach since May 2022, as endorsed by the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

Biden’s “Fly In” Immigration Program

The Biden Administration created the CHNV (Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans) parole initiative which he implemented in October 2022 through Alejandro Mayorkas’ Department of Homeland Security, following the model of the Ukrainian program.  This was launched two years after Biden took office.

The Administration says it requires applicants from Venezuela to have a financially capable U.S.-based sponsor and pass vetting and background checks.  Mayorkas, however, continually told Americans the border was closed. How can Myrtle Beach residents trust him when he says these immigrants passed vetting and/or went through a proper background check?

In January 2023, the White House declared that the program would also include applicants from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua. When MyrtleBeachSC News reached out about illegal immigrants from the Congo, China, Iran, Middle East or other countries, we got no response.

HHS reported that people from the four counties, listed above, who meet the criteria and have not tried to cross the border between ports of entry are permitted to travel by air from their home countries to the United States instead of physically going to land border crossings.

HHS refused to say what cities the immigrants are being flown into, but ongoing reports of arrivals at MYR persist.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported in February 2024 that over 386,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans have arrived (legally?) and received parole through the parole procedures since January 2023.

Most were flown into the states of Florida and Texas.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, stated that the CHNV program is the most extensive parole program carried out by any White House administration in decades.

In May 2023, S.C. Governor Henry McMaster tasked SLED with reporting illegal immigrants deplaning in S.C. We covered that article at that time.

BUSING IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS THROUGH NGOs.

MyrtleBeachSC News also covered this busing topic thoroughly on March 22, 2024.

We reported: In a new memo titled, “Tracking Movement of Illegal Aliens from NGOs to Interior of USA”, the Oversight Project unveiled new data showing the massive numbers of illegal aliens who have made their way to NGO facilities physically located along the border and in border states, and subsequently traveled throughout the United States.  

As part of the Oversight Project’s work to document NGO involvement in the border crisis, the Project launched an investigation which ultimately obtained a sampling of approximately 30,000 unique and anonymized mobile devices that were geofenced to a number of these NGOs along the border. These locations were chosen based on human source information, as well as open-source intelligence, that they may be involved in helping illegal aliens travel from the border to various parts of the interior. Device pings were captured throughout the month of January 2022, in four different phases: 

• Phase One involved “geofencing” the physical locations of the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Center and the Del Rio Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Station—around 400 devices pinged on premises. 
• Phase Two of the investigation involved the geofencing of 20 NGO facilities in border states—around 22,000 devices pinged on premises. 
• Phase Three involved geofencing 13 NGO locations located in close physical proximity to the border—around 5,000 devices pinged on premises. 
• Phase Four of the investigation focused on geofencing Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, located in San Juan, Texas—around 3,400 devices pinged on premises. 

Phase Two results demonstrated that these 22,000 devices were later traced to 431 separate U.S. congressional districts out of a total 435 congressional districts. Of the 52 congressional districts with the highest density of devices, 71% were Republican congressional districts. Of the 5,000 devices captured in Phase 3, they were later traced to all but one congressional district, and of the 3,400 captured in Phase 4—all at just one NGO location—those phones later pinged in 433 of 435 congressional districts. In short, this is proof that Biden’s border crisis has turned every state into a border state.   

WHY IS THE MYRTLE BEACH AREA CHAMBER ASSOCIATED WITH THIS NGO?

March 2024 new jobs growth showed 0 new jobs in American Manufacturing. The 2nd largest source of job growth was GOVERNMENT JOBS. The third largest is the hospitality industry, followed by construction.

Who is getting these hospitality industry and construction jobs in our area?

According to a Newsweek article published yesterday, the number of employed foreign born workers hit 31.11 million in March compared to 31 million the previous month, an apparent increase of more than 100,000 in March.

The U.S. Department of Labor reports 303,000 jobs in total were added in March. This means 34% of all new jobs created in March were filled by immigrants.

In the Myrtle Beach area, low paying hospitality and construction jobs are needed. Hospitality and construction were among the largest gains in new job growth.

It is certainly no surprise the Karen Riordan, of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, supports these NGOs.

THE MAJOR ISSUES FOR LOCALS

The costs of educating these foreign born immigrants are payed for by local taxpayers. The costs of educating these immigrants are not passed on to the employers hiring these low wage workers.

Many are concerned that the Biden Administration is creating few new jobs for American citizens. However, at taxpayer costs, illegal immigrants are housed and now make up one third of all newly created jobs in America.